My original event was the 2003 Fall Fury - I got a chance to figure out the game and operate a couple of qualifications. At that point I wasn't even sure if I would continue on the team, but after the event I became completely obsessed
MY first official event was the 2004 New Jersey Regional. At first I was overwhelmed by all the people there..the dancing, singing, cheering, etc. I wanted to do something on the team besides watching from the stands - when I asked a senior on the team what I should do I was handed a clipboard and told "scout." I scouted, but soon thought to myself, "wow, this is boring."
So I went down to the pits and joined my team, asking our pit boss what I should do. She said leave, it was too crowded already. After scouting a little more I returned and was kicked out again, probably 3 times in total. Once more I came back to the pits but this time went to a mentor before our pit boss got to me. I asked what I could do, and was given a job of repairing an old robot cart. This was my first ever accomplishment on the team, and people began to see that, despite being the only freshman on the team, I could make a difference. I helped out on a few other things and the next day while watching matches a mentor came up to the stands and told me that we were reorganizing the pit and that my help would be needed - I felt great,having gone from scouter to necessary pit worker!
I worked a lot on the repairs that competition, and for the next regional since our former boss could not make it I was elected pit boss, a title which the two of us now share. (except now we are also both operators for the team, so we haven't really decided what we are doing next year)
We ended up in 42nd out of 47 for the NJ regional but got picked by 181 early. We lost in the quarterfinals and got no awards, but it was a great event for me and now I am excited to have 3 more years of FIRST (as a student anyway...I will later work as college student/mentor hopefully) ahead of me. (did anyone actually read that whole thing? That was my longest post on record, I believe).
-Steve Howland