The FIRST Effect

[kstl99]

A first year senior on our team has been writing a weekly column in a local newspaper, The Goffstown News. Her last article was not published but she shared it with our team and I thought it good enough to share (with her permission) with Chief Delphi. What she says about our team I believe is true for most FIRST teams (I hope). There was a thread last year about how FIRST has effected people'sives but I love reading the stories so if anyone has one to share please do.

Here is the article:

Joining FIRST was, while a spur-of-the-moment, probably one of the best decisions I will ever make.
When I decided to join the team, several of my friends expressed very valid concerns related to my experiences on a similar academic team four years ago. They were also stunned at my sudden and apparently unprovoked change in personality. For eight years, music, theatre and performing had been my life. I would rearrange my schedule to fit in a new show. FIRST was something that I had just wanted to try. Little did I know that it would change every plan I had for the rest of my life.
FIRST has become something incredible...an experience that I can never recreate or replace. It's become an addiction. It's done something I never thought possible – replacing my love for theatre and performing with a love for robots. I used to sit other places and say, “Wow, I wish I was at rehearsal.” Now I sit at rehearsal and say, “Wow, I wish I was at robotics.” My mindset has changed from being a theatre or music major to majoring in physics. Talk about a complete 180.
The atmosphere at FIRST is unlike any festival, rehearsal or meeting I've ever been to. And the people are incredible. I felt comfortable the very first time I walked in that green metal door in September 2010. There are no cliques. The JSR students and the Hopkinton students mesh effortlessly.
After this FIRST season, my main source of excitement about my new college is not the fantastic arts program or music program, but the satellite math and science high school on campus, my chance to become an FRC mentor, and the fact that there is a regional held minutes away.
At the conclusion of my senior/rookie season with Team Oz-Ram, I have a lot of people to thank. First off, thanks to all the sponsors that helped us get the Tin Man 6 and Tin Man 6.5 built and functional. We certainly couldn't have gotten anywhere without you. Next, I have to thank everyone who read my column. Knowing that people actually were excited about the team and about FIRST means a lot to me.
Lastly, I want to thank Team Oz-Ram. I know I'm not always the easiest to put up with, and I know that I can occasionally make simple things very difficult, but I really appreciate how so many of you took the time to involve me and teach me how the team worked, and to help me find my place on the team. I also want to thank you for being not only my teammates, but my friends...and for acting as a surrogate family at times. You were so warm and accepting, and thanks for showing this rookie what she's been missing out on.
A FIRST season can be likened to a roller coaster. And I can say that John Stark or Hopkinton, drive team or Chairman's committee, Safety Award or bust, there's no one else I'd have rather taken this ride with. The best way to sum up how I feel about my season is with a lyric from the Broadway musical “Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz”:
“I do believe I have been changed for the better. … And because I knew you, I have been changed for good.”
I love you guys. Rookie out.

~*~
Rachel Cisto, Photographer