Why are YOU involved in FIRST?

[MikeDubreuil]

I was a sophomore at Enfield High, in Enfield, Connecticut and heard about the robotics program at Fermi High School, #175 Buzz Robotics. I was a huge nerd in high school and thought it would be a good idea. The first year I was too young to drive so my grandfather would drive me to the other side of town so I could work on the robot. I was the only person on the team who wrote software and all the engineers cautiously loved me. They knew that if I wasn’t there and they needed a software change things could get ugly. So we adopted a “if you get hit by a bus” plan, in which I carefully explained the software to one of the electrical engineers, Rich Desjean. He definitely could have stepped in and taken over for me, but I think he just wanted me to feel special. The first year was also where I got my nickname Dubes.

My second year I convinced more Enfield High people to join. I think this is the year that Erin Rapacki joined. It is definitely the year that Aidan Browne joined. He also moved into a house 2 down from mine.

The third year, my senior year, was when I really learned why Aidan Browne was a special person. Basically, it was late fall and I wasn’t doing too hot in school and I hadn’t started applying to colleges. We had a life changing talk one night at his house. A “what the hell are you doing?” type of chat. That got me motivated to start applying and I got into most of the schools I applied and ended up at the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston.

My sophomore year at Wentworth was when I started back up in FIRST. Erin Rapacki just started at Northeastern and told me about their team. I showed up to one of the meetings and the rest is history. I became one of the top “engineers” on the team and I might end up working at the sponsor, Textron Systems, some day.

This year will mark my 6th year of being involved with FIRST, and I made it to my senior year of computer engineering tech at Wentworth. In high school, robotics was a great way to let out the geek in me. Now as a college mentor, I see myself in some of the high school kids. Of course, robotics is just as fun as in high school. However, it also gives me a chance to give back to the Hamilton engineers that mentored me into the engineering field. When I work 1 on 1 with a high school student it often reminds me of the talk that Aidan and I had that fall night. Perhaps, I can change a high school students life as Aidan did for me, at best I could try.