[mdoshi]

I thoughts on some of the topics in this thread...

I am high school senior, and, although I do not plan on starting my own team in college, I do plan on helping mentor a team at a high school, who was a rookie this year, in the city of my college. I don't expect to take over or be thier leader. I do not want recognition or anything else...I just want to share my experience with them.

I think FIRST has affected me in a way that nothing else could have. No, FIRST did not inspire to become an engineer. I am going into Journalism. Does that mean that FIRST failed me, or more like, I failed FIRST? No, I don't believe that. I learned so much from being a part of my team. FIRST teaches us things like organization skills, how to work as a team, teaches us to accept rejections AND sucesses. As the captian of my team, I feel like I gave all I could to my team, and what an experience I had. From the late nights, to the excitment of competiton, the dissapointments of loosing, to the nerve recking moments before they announced the Chairman's Award winner and the tears that filled our teams eyes after winning, I enjoyed every moment of it.

I don't think FIRST will ever die in me. Sure, other things will take over, but I think, and I truly hope, that FIRST will be a part of me, because it was a big part of my high school experience and I dont think that I can forget it so easily. I truly want to keep FIRST a part of my life. One of my future hopes is to be a judge.

And about the having a FIRST decorated room...get this. Three of our team members got our team summation (which we used in our buttons and hoodies this year, equals our team number) tatooed on thier shoulders. A few more members are concidering. I dont think they will ever forget thier hard work and dedication to our team.