[Ben Martin]

I have enjoyed reading your posts. I am sure that FIRST has benefited you all in tremendous ways. However, my own experience is a little different.

I have been a member of team 234 for three years now. When I first applied for the team, I wanted to join for three reasons: I had a few friends on the team, I was somewhat interested in engineering, and I wanted to build a cool robot. As I worked. By the end of my first year, I was sure I wanted to be an engineer. I had had so much fun during the build season, and I really wanted to be a part of the team for another three years.

As I moved into my second year, however, I began to develop my own opinions. I wanted to voice them, but I was afraid to. We had a lot of very opinionated seniors on the team at the time, and I was afraid of posing an idea that they wouldn't appreciate. I just worked harder than I ever had before, and I made it through our team interviews to join the team for another year.

Before I joined robotics, I was a part of both the Boy Scouts and my high school orchestra. During these two years, I became a much better cello player, and I was elected as the Senior Patrol Leader of my troop. I credit these two activities for making me "come out." As I became more confident in playing the cello, I became more confident in my speaking skills as well. Through Boy Scouts, my leadership skills vastly improved. I now find myself playing the leadership role in almost every school group project.

As I moved into the build season this year, I became more vocal than I had ever been before. Nearly every activity had a little bit of my input. I let the lead mentors know my feelings, and sometimes they agreed with me. Sometimes they didn't. Robotics gave me an opportunity to use these new skills, but I don't feel that it developed them.

As I move into interviews this year again, I hope that I will once again make the team. Over this past year, I have found that engineering is just not the skill that I am best at. I don't know what I want to do in college anymore. However, I do have a few ideas that could improve the team. It's no longer about building a robot for me, or preparing for college, or even friends. Most of my friends are seniors this year. Instead, it's about providing guidance and teaching what I have learned.

FIRST may bring out the speaker in some, but it didn't in me. Instead, it allowed me to use speaking and leadership skills. FIRST can greatly influence a person, but it is not the only program that can. At least for me, I wish to be a part of many activities, that way I can learn and be influenced by each of them. FIRST can develop a person, but it's not the only organization that can.