[Yan Wang]

At open house this past Thursday, I found that the most effective recruiting tool was to go right up to a person and start talking about robotics and what a great learning experience it is. I got about 3 girls to apply for the team through this method and met a whole lot more.

I thought the highlight of the evening was when the wife of a Cornell law prof came up to me and started talking animatedly about engineers. One quote sticks out: "If I had to do it over again, I'd marry an engineer. You guys learn to work together instead of arguing... I married a lawyer... Plus, engineers are smart and good problem solvers." She then hailed over the wife of the Dean of the Law School @ Cornell and told her to get money for our team. I was ecstatic.

Another high point came when Steve Squyres discussed FIRST with me. He really seemed to be impressed by the program. "A lot of the things you guys are asked to do have real life applications." He has two daughters at the high school but I haven't been successful in recruiting them yet. Wish me luck.