[DarkFlame145]

I was in the 6th grade and I was at my boyscout meetings and noticed that the older boys (also great friends of mine) where coming to meetings really late. It turned out they where coming back from FIRST. Over the course of my 3 years in middle school I kept hearing all of these stories, so what i was a Freshman in HS (the guys where Seniors) I joined US FIRST Team TRX 145. Little did I know what I was getting myself into. That years i was trained as a TIG Welder (something i enjoy very much). Triple Play inspired me to try my hand at becoming a Welder so I took a years worth of welding classes my 11th grade year. Aim High I sadly could not do FIRST cause I moved. But once I got my license I drove sometimes 30 miles to get to FIRST meetings for Rack 'n Roll and 30 mins back in the snow. One night I even flipped my car, but a week later i was going to meetings again. Rack 'n Roll made me realize that I love the mechanical part of the robot, the motors, gears, and chains. After much thinking I decided that being a pro Welder wasn't what i really wanted to do. But i loved mechanical stuff, but I also loved cars and custom painted cars. So my senior year I took an Autobody class at school. I liked it, it was fun, but repetitive. Overdrive was my last, fav, and best year. Even though i was not a team leader, I acted as one in the shop, if I wasn't welding I was making sure things where getting done. I knew that robot inside and out. Most things went smoothly and we even had a week to debug and test, a team first. Since I knew the robot so well I was put in charge of talking to judges after being knocked off the driver team. After a full day of talking to the judges with one of our team leaders, who did most of the coding for our hybrid mode, we walked away with the Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control Award. Even though it was a team effort to get it, some Mentors flat out told me that it was the talking of me and our team leader with the judges, why we won the award. Now that I'm graduated and now 1500 miles away from the team in Florida, where i'm going to school for auto mechanics, I'm eager to join a Orlando area team if time allows me. SO my inspiration was my great friends talking to me about FIRST. But most impotently FIRST has inspired what I wanna do with my life. I thank the FIRST Foundation for everything they have done