[Andy S]

I personally love the setup 1717 has for FRC. As a freshman, sophomore, and junior, we take engineering or physics classes, but also watch as the seniors get to build a robot. This is inspiration in itself, as every student from every grade level finds themselves trying harder in classes in preparation for senior year. Then, when senioritis kicks in for most of the school, we find ourselves working for hours and hours on a project that we love.

The passion and intensity is upped due to the fact that each class has their one year to try and qualify for Atlanta. When 1717 looks back at its past years, we think of the class that made each robot and what they accomplished, not in terms of winning, but in terms of building the best robot they were capable of building. Each year has a sense of pride for their robot that they built.

However, I feel the best thing about the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy is the school wide excitement. The Academy is a 128 student academy at a public high school of 2400 kids. What amazes me is the culture FIRST has provided. We have school wide recognition and have fan buses and cheerleaders come to Regionals to watch robots play soccer.

The 32 student turnover each year may not be ideal for many teams. One of our teacher's goals is to serve as many students as possible, and this is the way he chose to accomplish this.

If anyone has any questions regarding the Academy or Team 1717, feel free to ask.