[MGoelz]

Speaking for myself, I know that it probably would have taken me longer to find out about the robotics team at the high school, had it not been for the invite I received to participate in VEX at the IRI over the summer of 2005. As soon as I walked into the room, I was excited. I had never heard or seen anything like it before. I love math and science anyway, so I was intrigued. The point of this, however, is that I know I would have finally wanted to join at the high school, but it certainly would not have been in my freshman year.

After the summer VEX, I joined for the pilot season for the team they decided to start at our middle school. I was in eighth grade. Our team also invited some of the members of the VEX team to observe during the FRC build season at the high school. I was privileged to be able to take advantage of this opportunity. I knew I loved it and I was able to learn a lot, simply by having that time to watch, and feel out what everyone was doing.

All of these things made me feel more comfortable in this area and I had no problem adjusting to the high school team.

I think that if robotics and the FIRST programs were introduced to girls before they got to high school, they would at least want to investigate it and see what it is all about. Not only girls; it would benefit everyone to be informed about these programs beforehand. I know that it helped me and I'm sure there are others that feel the same.

Despite these efforts our team has made, we still have about 8 girls and 26 guys. I don't feel under-represented or anything, simply because our team doesn't treat the girls any differently when it comes to being involved with the robot. I am appreciative of this; I have never been one to like special attention, especially the boys and girls thing, because I don't feel like either gender has an advantage over the other. We all learn, and have the opportunity to learn. Boys aren't naturally born knowing all about math and science, and girls don't come into the world educated on fashion and style and those types of things.

Of course, I'm not the girly girl, but still, I know that it takes the will and desire to want to learn to accomplish anything. It just depends on what you're interested in, what you're willing to learn, the time you're willing to commit, and opportunities you're willing to take.