Why did you join FIRST?

[Katie_UPS]

I think that I have an unusual story as to how I got involved in FIRST.
And I'm pretty sure that it isn't normal proceedure. So I was wondering,

How did you get involved in FIRST?

Whether you're a mentor or a student, a volunteer or a teammate, FRC or FLL, how did you get involved?


And if you were wondering my story;

When I was in 6th grade, my mom woke me up one Saturday and my parents and I went to Chicago. I had no idea why we were going, but next thing I know, I'm walking into this arena, with a bunch of kids in matching shirts and robots on a colorful field (Triple Play)('05). I was going to my first regional to watch the robot that my two siblings helped make. It never occured to me before then that they were even on a robotics team (or that such a thing existed!), but I was watching, and it looked like so much fun, and just really cool. Ever since, I’ve been hooked. I pretty much knew as I left the venue that I was going to join the team when I went to high school.


What's your story?

[Billfred]

I saw a sign in the Irmo High tech center advertising a team starting.

It looked like it could be fun.

The rest is history.

[gorrilla]

1557 put an add out in the paper......then they dragged my down with them


I dont really know "why" I joined FIRST.....but Im sure glad I did

actually...maybe i just wanted to get out of my house and do something...
I had no idea what i was getting myself into

[Zach O]

Mine is a rather boring story.

This year (my freshman year) I was at a orientation for my parents at school. During this, there was a marching band member (I am was in marching band too, but I didn't know them at the time really) asked me if I was taking any drafting classes. I said I was and they asked me if I wanted to join the Robotics team. I guess you can see the rest

[ATannahill]

My story is actually pretty close to Katie's, Except I didn't go to one of my brother's events. When I got to high school, I decided on East Lake because of the robotics program and got hooked during my freshman season. I am sorry I did not get involved earlier.

[EricH]

I first saw a FIRST robot back in the dark ages... My school, along with about 3 others, had a team in 1997's Torroid Terror that did a demo at my school. I didn't pay much attention at the demo... I probably should have.

Then my dad started helping out the (now single-school) team as an engineer in 1998, the last year before alliances. Naturally, I hung out with the team when I could. I remember one of my friends and I cleaning the floor of nuts and washers and passing them to the sorters. That's kind of how it went from then to 2000. Then the team changed locations, so I couldn't hang out at the shop any more.

2001 and 2002, I went to competitions, as I'd been doing since SVR started (anyone else remember the blimp hangar we were in the first year?). I'd gone to the 1999 and 2000 SVR events, and the 2000 Orlando competition (also known as: Nationals).

For the 2003 season, the team leadership decided to allow 8th grade students on the team under certain conditions, which I met. (Later, the age went back up.) I, of course, jumped at the chance and got to work, as I was in 8th grade that year. Back to hanging out at the shop... but this time, I was actually working.

[gorrilla]

another thing.............

back in 2006, I saw an add for my team(1557) and called up one of our mentors Lee Johnson..then I found out that it was only for highschool grades' so I kinda forgot about it untill next year when I saw another one in the paper

[Rich Kressly]

A few individual stories, including mine, are here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/1583 Compiling a recent set of these kind of stories from a wide variety of sources can be a powerful tool in your region.

[Josh Goodman]

I joined robotics club with my friends because I'm a geek. I didn't join FIRST until around the end of my freshman year, during my first Championships. It was at that point where I "got it". It's been a wild ride since then just for joining the school robotics club.

[Rick TYler]

Because the judge said, "Either five years in prison, the French Foreign Legion, or become a robotics mentor." To think, I'd be getting out of prison right about now...

[SamC]

The robotics team is basically the only extracurricular at my school so I always knew about it. But then I found out that you got to go on trips for the competitions, so I joined. After the first year I returned not only for the traveling but mainly for the robots and different learning opportunities.

[typharn91]

i was on a fll team in middle school and spam hosted the tornement we went to and had thiers robots at the comp and i was awesome and i got hooked then and there and been in it since

[santosh]

I missed the bus and wound up at a meeting

[Jimmy Nichols]

Jan 2004 I overheard a group of students talking about their senior design project working with this group of kids on a robot. I thought that would be awesome and I would love to do that. They said it was really hard to get the as your senior design. The next year, 2005, I wasn't able to get on that group, until one of the guys on the group called and said they were dropping it for something else. I swooped and in and the rest is history

[GaryVoshol]

My story starts with my daughter's story. Her elementary teacher heard about FLL and said, "I really think you should be on the robotic team." That first year, they didn't compete, but they did start in Volcanic Panic the next year. Now it's nine years later ...

Thanks, Mrs B.