[carolyn]

I never wanted to be an engineer when I was younger, actually until sophomore year I was dead-set against becoming an engineer. I slowly became open to the idea of engineering by attending two free engineering camps over the past few summers. This past summer, many of the kids were on the topic of their robotics teams quite a few times, and I asked them to explain it to me. Once I had gotten the concept down, they really encouraged me to join a team when I got back home (thanks again Maddie from 2486, Nitesh from 461, and Hanne from 3006!). When home, I decided to start looking up teams in my area I could join. Surprisingly enough to me, although I had received several polite declinations due to school liability issues, I received many teams willing to let me join as well! I chose to join team 348, Norwell Robotics. As soon as I started attending meetings, I realized all of the fun I had missed out by only discovering the world of FIRST in my senior year. I decided to try and make this year count for all the many teams willing to let me join as well! I chose to join team 348, Norwell Robotics, who were only 20 minutes away. As soon as I started attending meetings, I realized all of the fun I had missed out by only discovering the world of FIRST in my senior year. I decided to try and make this year count for all the year’s I had missed. At first it was a challenge because I didn’t know a single person on the team, but that quickly changed. After spending countless days and nights working on the robot this year and going to the WPI Regional and Championships, I know that I made one of the best choices of my life.