[smurfgirl]

For me, it was definitely more of a gradual thing.

I joined the team one Thursday in October, and they were like "hey, this Saturday, we're going to a competition called 'Bash at the Beach', wanna come?" I didn't know anything about what I was agreeing to, but I said I'd go. I was awestruck when I walked in, partly because it wasn't on a beach, and partly because of all of the robots, the loud music, and the number of excited kids running around. You could literally feel the excitement in the air. They asked me if I wanted to go "on stage", I had no idea what that meant. I decided the "coach" and "human player" position sounded good, so I was handed "The Game" section of the 2005 handbook to read, giving me a feel for Triple Play. I started to catch on to the game, I loved the strategy in it, and we won the two matches I coached, probably just from coincidence. Our team had won Bash @ the Beach the year before, and a reporter came over to interview us, and he started asking me questions... amazingly I was able to answer them all, in two days I had picked up a lot.

This whole event jump-started the process of the inspiration. Different events throughout the season helped me to grow to understand and appreciate everything that was going on. By a few months into my time on the team, I was considered a "senior member", though a sophomore and a first year member on the team. Even then, there was more inspiration coming.

After placing 40th of the 40 teams at the Connecticut Regional with one qualification match to go, we were asked to join the alliance made of teams 177 and 176. While winning the regional felt good, by the time we went to the Championship it felt undeserved. I certainly got a new perspective on teamwork, strategy, and success from this experience. I watched 176 paly in our division and win EVERY SINGLE MATCH, I thought that was both incredible and impossible. That definitely inspired me (and I'm sure the rest of the team) in several ways, and it drove us to look at things differently and work harder until we re-created that for ourselves this year.

Two more seasons have passed since then, and I still see myself being inspired and touched at times. I also haved watched many other students grow and be inspired. For me, I think one of the most inspiring things is looking back on how I have grown and changed over my time in FIRST, seeing younger students grow and change in the same way and realizing, "wow, that was me three years ago" is one of the coolest feelings ever; you have an idea of how great this is for them and how much potential they have, and it hasn't hit them it yet. I also really love doing demos for the other schools in the district, girl scouts, boy scouts, the town, etc. I love telling people about the program and watching their faces, it's just the greatest thing ever to see the amazement and interest in their eyes, and everything else on their faces. I don't think the inspiration ever comes all at once, and I don't think it ever really ends.