[Jeremiah Johnson]

Story:

Team 648 was presenting their team and robot to the incoming Freshmen at Moline HS tonight. We were surrounded by other clubs and organizations involved with Moline. While we only got nine students to sign up, there was one special person that committed to join the team. That person? A 4-year old child. He didn't know what was going on or what the team was about, but was very entertained by my Vex robot.

This cute little child was following the robot around all night. When the robot moved he followed. As I made it do circles around a pillar, he did circles, too. When it turned around, he backed away. It was so cute, too bad my camera's batteries were dead.

When I started talking to his father as we were packing up he (his father) committed to his child's education in science and technology. He wanted to know how early his son could start robotics and what he could do to enrich his son's education. Unfortunately, there are no FLL teams in the Moline School district, so I had to tell him he'd have to wait for Vex*.

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I used to think FIRST was about my learning experiences, but now that I'm out of high school and am a seasoned veteran of FIRST I've realized that this organization is about more than my own enjoyment, it's about the enjoyment of others. Younger people that I inspire. I certainly inspired someone tonight and I'm hoping this story will inspire you, too.



*Today I visited with the local Boys and Girls Club Organization and they were very enthused about starting one or more Vex teams in the Quad Cities, what a busy day for promoting FIRST!