[Erin Rapacki]

When I was in high school I played a sport for 11 out of the 12 sporting seasons offered (3 seasons per school year). I played soccer and did indoor & outdoor track. The season I missed was Senior year indoor track because I did decide to focus on robotics more. The previous year, junior year, I went to school, track practice, hour for dinner/nap, robotics, did homework until 2am, and repeat. I'm a person who likes my sleep so I had to make a sacrifice for robotics (indoor track) but I went running on my own every afternoon anyway.

Sports & physical activity are important to me and I'll never sacrifice them completely for school or robotics. I run 5-miles every day, I'm going backpacking in the White Mountains for two nights this weekend, and I hang glide regularly. Robotics is fun, but don't sacrifice you're health for it. I believe that staying fit & healthy is a No#1 priority and in the long run... the better shape you're in the more productive you are anyway.