[Scott Shaw 237]

Here is an anonymous testimony of a certain FIRSTer I know who is involved alot. I think sharing his/ her experience will help us all appreciate FIRST even more. Enjoy.

It’s been a while, not really… just 5 years. 5 years that I have been working with such a great group of mentors and students. I have always wondered, am I good enough for them? Why am I doing this? Every single time I ask myself these questions, I always seem to find the answer. Mentors and students always seem to welcome me here. 5 years ago, I was a mess.

Back in my freshman year in high school, I didn’t have a destiny for the future, I was just a student who went to school and came back home. I was introduced to FIRST by my school. I thought I would give it a try. I wasn’t even hooked during the build season. Competition dates came up. I started traveling with the team. Saturday, April 27th, 2002, I still remember that day clearly; when I first saw Team 180 and team 71 go at each other. I was hooked. The music, energy in all the students, mentors helping in the pits, it was just amazing. From that point on, I decided that I am going to be on the “Robotics Club” throughout my high school career.

Sophomore year, I stepped up more and was head of the mechanical team. It was great to work with the crew. The funny thing is, students on the mechanical sub-team weren’t friends with each other, we never used to talk to each other outside of school, but we worked so well as a team. I was introduced to lot of legends, both mentors and students. They all welcomed me to work with them. As a sophomore in high school, I finally found my destiny. It was to study and have a job in future, where I am never going to get bored. I decided that no matter what, I would become a mechanical engineer.

Junior year in high school, two legends took me under their wing and taught me a lot of mechanical aspects. From this I designed a few transmissions (1 speed and 2 speed, 3 and 4 speeds are yet to come). I also picked up few off season projects to make small robots. Why would those 2 mentors help me? Why would they stay up late at night to teach me? They weren’t on my team. They didn’t know me. They didn’t have to help me. But they did. I have gained so much respect for all the mentors in FIRST from that point on. They are always there to help me.

Senior year in high school, I decided to take the mentor role for the students on the team. This is the reason why I let the freshmen and sophomores build more throughout the season. I was just there to watch over them and help manufacture parts that were hard for them to do. It was all about teamwork. It was another great lesson for me about teamwork when a group of 10 students and many mentors started working on an off season and pulled it off smoothly.

Here I am now, as a college freshman and a mentor, craving for more from FIRST. Seems like, I just can’t get enough of it. This is one organization I would like to stick with throughout my whole life, because FIRST gave me a life.