[Zyik]

Yes, a great deal. Theres the short answer. If you want the long answer continue reading.

I was once a very shy, introverted kid. I didn't talk much, I fought a lot. I constantly had my nose in a book or a computer. In Jr. High I found the schools robotics team, FLL. I knew almost no one there. I was the only person who was willing to figure out the programing for the robot, everyone else wanted to play with the legos. The year I was on the team, our robot did pretty bad. We placed pretty low, not even above the half way mark. However, sitting around watching the award ceremonies, we were called up for a 1st place award. Robust Programming. The award allowed my team to head to the State Competition. I was ecstatic. I was the only one who had touched this area of the robot, so I really felt like it was 'my' award. This did more for my self esteem then anything else could have.

The next year I advanced to High School, and joined the FRC team. The mentor had been told who I was from FLL, and for the first time in my life I was greeted as someone who knew what they were doing, not as a freshman. This was also a healthy dose of self esteem for one who started out with none. That year I was able to learn about a new kind of programming. The job I assigned myself after build season was strategy, a job I still hold. At the time, I had no idea what this entailed. I was also the only scout. 973 attended Championships my freshman year. I had to scout over one hundred teams, by myself. That was an experience in and of itself.

Scouting was an experience that taught me how to talk to other people, and that has helped me out a lot in life. Not only has this taught me how to present projects to other people, it has also shown me how to ask a lot of questions.

Because of FIRST, I have become a more confident able person. Without it, I would still be the very shy introvert that I was. Granted, at times I still become that all over again, but most of the time I am able to use what FIRST has taught me.