Well, when I was in sixth grade we had a representative from NASA come to my school to talk about space exploration and stuff like that. I made the decision that I wanted to have a career that had something to do with aerospace or aeronautics. When it came time to choose my classes for high school, I signed up for an introduction to engineering course and my teacher spoke very highly of the robotics team and how, if we wanted to see real-life applications of Inventor (which was pretty much the basis of what we learned in class), we should join the team. I really wanted to do well in that class, so I joined the team. I loved watching everyone interact, and pretty soon I made friends.
I don't know what I would've done if I didn't get involved with FIRST. It might sound weird, but not only has it helped me with the concepts of math and science, but it's also helped me in other aspects of my life, like how to forget things and have fun with people. Plus, I think my coordination might have improved a bit from human playering. Not much, though, because I did almost get my eye poked out from running into a tree branch in Atlanta.
