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Unread 30-03-2008, 23:23
smurfgirl smurfgirl is offline
Still a New Englander on the inside
AKA: Ellen McIsaac
FRC #5012 (Gryffingear)
Team Role: Mentor
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Rookie Year: 2005
Location: Palmdale, CA
Posts: 1,725
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Re: bragging rights!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you asked someone from our community about our team, they'd probably tell you how the ÜberBots won the CT Regional for the third consecutive year, seeding first and going undefeated for all three days. If they were really astute, they might even tell you about how we won the Entrepreneurship Award at the CT Regional for all of our community work.

Sure, winning sounds great at the event - who doesn't like to win? - but that's not the first thing I would think of if you asked me for our team's biggest success story over the years. The reason why I mentioned community recognition in the first paragraph, and the reason why we got the Entrepreneurship Award - the way we have grown and spread ourselves through the community over the years - is the thing I am most proud of.

Our team started as a small group, with maybe 12 students, back in 2003. Everyone who joined the team was interested in building the robot, and that's all. We had minimal sponsorship, and if you asked anyone in our town about us... they would have no idea what that robotics thing you mentioned is. 2006 was really when we started our team growth. By that year we had 24 students, and a decent number of sponsors. We started to get involved in the community, bringing the robot to the elementary schools in the town and to other public events. "ÜberBots" still wasn't really a key word for Avonians, but a few people knew who we were.

Throughout the 2006, 2007, and 2008 seasons, our team has exploded. We've held dozens of community events and many demonstrations for elementary and middle school students to help to get them interested in science and technology. In the 2008 season alone, we've reached almost 3000 students with our presentations. A large group of eighth graders who want to join our team next year came to watch us at the Connecticut Regional this year. At our most recent fundraiser, dozens of families from our town came to meet our robot, Lightning, and our team members. We brought a scrapbook and video from the competitions to show everyone what FIRST is about, and we taught kids how to drive our robot around. Not only does our town know all about the ÜberBots, people from adjacent towns, and far-off family members and their aquaitances know lots about our team. We now have 36 team members, whose interests vary from fundraising to spirit to CAD to programming to art to spirit to mechanical to leadership and beyond.

The thing that means the most to me... it's those 3000 kids, their parents, everyone our team is able to reach with our message of inspiration. The way their faces light up when they see our robot... that's the greatest feeling in the world to me. The smiles and the laughter, the fascinated questions, and the desire for them to become a part of it all... that couldn't be replaced by 10,000 trophies.

I am incredibly proud of our team for being able to get involved in people's lives and change them so much for the better; for being able to inspire people to follow their dreams, and this is the success story I want to share with the FIRST community. I want to thank FIRST for the impact it has made on my life, and I am so glad that I have the opportunity to pass it on to others. I hope that everyone else can have the amazing experience of being a role model and an inspiration to others.
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Ellen McIsaac
Team 1124 ÜberBots 2005-2015
Team 5012 Gryffingear 2015+