Probably one of the most exciting things that happened to me because of robotics was the formation of a new FRC team in my neighborhood. Several mentors/students from 904 (a team that I was a member on until recently) decided that we were going to form our own team, and in late October we formed the
COMETS. We actually just attended our first competition where we won the "Rookie All-Star Award" AND placed 7th overall! I can't wait to see what we're able to accomplish in the years to come.
My roles on this team are: web developer, programmer, and "marketing guy".
When I was a member of 904, one of my duties was to recruit sponsors for the team. After doing a short "demo" of the robot to a new sponsor, I was approached by the president of the company who encouraged me to apply for an internship at his company for the following year. This year they are also a
sponsor of 3357.
Good news. This month I was interviewed at the company for 2 hours, and yesterday I received word that I am one of their interns for the summer of 2010!
So that is what robotics has done for me. I am still learning many new skills, and solving many new problems. It seems like each year I continue to learn new things. If you had said to me when I first joined 904 that two years later I would be setting up my own server, coding websites, and interning at West Michigan's second largest software development company, I would have thought you were crazy. However, because of a lot of hard work, really good FRC mentors, and the desire to do my best, I am doing all of those things.