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Posted by Erin.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]


Student on team #1, The Juggernauts, from Oakland Technical Center-Northeast Campus and 3-Dimensional Services.

Posted on 4/15/2000 1:32 PM MST


In Reply to: The Transition posted by Kate on 4/14/2000 12:52 PM MST:



Kate-

You hit quite a nerve here. I am a senior in high school and the captain of the awesome Team #1. I really love my team. We aren't all just friends during our class or during competition, we are friends in and out of school. We hang out together almost all the time because we all get along so well.

After this year I don't know what I am going to do if I can't be on a FIRST team. Like Nate has said before, I am probably the one person he knows that could possibly be involved with FIRST for my whole life. That statement is entirely true. It isn't just because I like going to nationals for the vacation, that's not even true. I feed off of the positive energy coming from other people who happen to enjoy the same things that I enjoy. I love talking to other people and learning from them. Do you think I actually knew what a gear ratio was in the beginning of my junior year? I couldn't live a year without some kind of FIRST related activity.

When I go to college, I am aiming low and close-to-home. I don't see a 'super-high-quality' education as being my key to success. I believe that I can be successful without going to a big ten school. Hopefully, I can go to Oakland University or Oakland Community College for awhile until I can get up off of the ground from high school.

Kate, it is somewhat different on my team then yours. We have alot of college students come back after we graduate. However, we do not have people come just to get involved that have never been on the team before. I would actually like to see this happen, but we are a very small team and we haven't much room for lots of advisors. But with luck, I might come back next year and help out.

We still have the team captain from 1997 on our team. He is one of the teachers now, though. He went to work for OTC after he graduated. I hope to follow in his footsteps.

Kate, please don't look at your team and a negative in your life compared to your old team. Things grow and change, just be who you are and make them accept you for just that. Don't stop wearing facepaint because they look at you funny. Don't stop screaming for any team just because they look at you funny (read: this was what team 1 did to erin last year whenever she went fanatic in the stands.)

I don't really know what else to say, and I have said so much that I can't really come up with a conclusion to tie it all together. I guess the underlying message here is, don't let anything stand in your way of being who you are. You are a super-cool chick who is tons of fun, and even though your current team may be downing you for that, that gives you a great opportunity to change everything. Look at the positive rather than the negative, I know you can make a difference.

-erin