Why did you join FIRST?

[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.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Way back in 1996, my son, who was involved in the video and broadcasting club was asked to document the newly formed robotics team. He was shooting throughout the build season and editing like mad at school. He needed some help and a chaperone so my wife and I jumped in to help. I never set a hand on the robot that year. The second year, video was even more intense and Motorola had a facility for post production and my son was now on the mechanical crew. We continued video and editing but that was the first year for the Midwest Regional. So I attended and the robot had some issue with electrical. My son dragged me from the stands into the pit to help out. That was the first time I learned not to let a mech student go drilling holes in the tubing that electrical has run it's wires through. I could also anticipate what tool Raul would need next so he let me stay. The rest is history. My daughter started attending robotic events before she entered high school. Now both are graduated but attend events from time to time. My daughter as a spectator and guiding cheering sections. My son as a mentor on team 2041 from Clemente High School in Chicago.

[D.Stephenson]

2001 my Dad was mentoring 270 Deer Park's robotics team, my Uncle was there and asked my Dad to help him a few hours a week with the project, My Dad took my family to the SBPLI regional on saturday i was 13 and I loved it, Freshman year of high school I found out my school was starting a team, I showed up at the meeting after kick off, next day asked my Dad to come help us, and we have been with 871 since then

[petek]

I blame my daughter for it. At the start of her freshman year in HS she had to pick an extracurricular activity and saw that there was a robotics club. She'd had a preview of this club when her middle school tech class went to the Philly regional the year before, so she signed up for it. The "club" was Team 103.

I tried to stay out of it and let her grow without my meddling. Really, I did! I managed to give her her space and just helped out a little on Saturdays during build season. Then I went to my first regional (J&J, at the Rutgers College Ave gym) and decided that it was way more fun than one daughter should be allowed to have by herself.

[James1902]

When i was in about 6th grade my grandparents volunteered me to be a ball boy at the 2002 championships at EPCOT. I was swept up in the excitement and immediately went around the teams trying to find one from my future high school. I soon found out that Winter Park (the school I was zoned for) didn't have a team. So in 2005 when i became a freshman I joined 1083, another local high schools team. The year flew by and I had a blast, meeting tons of great people and creating friendships I still have today. Sadly that was 1083's last year so I, along with a very dedicated group of mentors and students, decided it was time to start a new central Florida team, and 1902 was born.

Another funny story is how one of my friends joined the team. It was 1902's second meeting ever, we didn't even have a name yet, and we brought a tray of Chick-fil-a to the meeting so we could eat and ponder over the game hint. My friend heard about the food and stopped in to mooch our chicken. However after she saw what the team did she decided to come back the next meeting and all the meetings after that.

[Collin Fultz]

During my freshman year of HS, I had Mr. Steve Wherry for geometry. He was one of the teacher sponsors for team 234. I wasn't on the team, but he spent so much time during second semester (Spring 2001) talking about FIRST, their robot, and the competitions that I was intrigued. He even went so far as to diagram the fabled "710 Match" during one of our classes then show us the video from the webcast. That spring break, my family went on a cruise then hung out in Orlando for a few days. The Saturday before we drove home, my dad took me to see my teacher and the robotics team he had heard some things about at work. I was blown away. As soon as I got home, I convinced my three best friends to apply for the team with me for the next season.

Eight years later, I have a BSME from Purdue with significant help from a Purdue/Delphi/FIRST scholarship, and a full-time position as a system engineer at Rolls-Royce (a sponsor of team 234 and 8 other central Indiana teams), and am back mentoring team 234. The circle of FIRST-life continues. All thanks to an enthusiatic geometry teacher and a father willing to take a chance and do something different with his son.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Collin Fultz

During my freshman year of HS, I had Mr. Steve Wherry for geometry. He was one of the teacher sponsors for team 234. I wasn't on the team, but he spent so much time during second semester (Spring 2001) talking about FIRST, their robot, and the competitions that I was intrigued. He even went so far as to diagram the fabled "710 Match" during one of our classes then show us the video from the webcast. That spring break, my family went on a cruise then hung out in Orlando for a few days. The Saturday before we drove home, my dad took me to see my teacher and the robotics team he had heard some things about at work. I was blown away. As soon as I got home, I convinced my three best friends to apply for the team with me for the next season.

Eight years later, I have a BSME from Purdue with significant help from a Purdue/Delphi/FIRST scholarship, and a full-time position as a system engineer at Rolls-Royce (a sponsor of team 234 and 8 other central Indiana teams), and am back mentoring team 234. The circle of FIRST-life continues. All thanks to an enthusiatic geometry teacher and a father willing to take a chance and do something different with his son.

This is another one of those posts that should be an entire spotlight. The whole thing.

Wisdom.

[RoboMom]

My older son joined a team his freshman year of HS. He will be graduating (we hope ) from college in May with a degree in ME and a minor in Engineering Entrepreneurship. FIRST introduced him to both areas.
He introduced me to FIRST and I tried to help his team.
I still don't speak robot, but I helped with the other stuff.
Kathie and I started NEMO when we discovered there were others like us out there who helped with the other stuff.
In 2004 I was recruited to help more teams and joined the original class of FIRST Senior Mentors.

[JoshD]

My dad saw a flier while touring the school before we had even moved here. I went to a meeting a few weeks after we moved in. It was the middle of my sophomore year, and my parents thought it was the best way to make friends quickly in a new school.

They were right.

[Katie_UPS]

I reallly like reading (and sharing!) these stories!

Even if you think your story has been told a million times, share it!

(Also, if any teams are having recruiting issues, I just realized that this thread might be benificial for them (for ideas))

[Alan Anderson]

I wanted to join FIRST before FIRST even existed. I saw a program on TV about Woodie Flowers and the 2.007 Engineering class at MIT, and felt a little cheated that I'd never have the chance to participate.

Fast forward about twenty years, with my son entering high school and joining the TechnoKats -- no WAY was I going to let him miss out on it! I attended the 2003 Ford Sweet Repeat off-season competition, watched the 2004 FRC Kickoff in Kokomo, and generally hung around the shop for the first couple of weeks of build. The team's software mentor was called out of the country on business at an inconvenient time, and I was asked to step in and help out.

Knowing nothing about the control system, I said yes anyway. A visit to Wildstang gave me a solid foundation to learn how to program the "new" IFI system, and my place with the team was made official. I'm still "helping out" two years after my son graduated.

[Anna B.]

Well.... when I was in sixth grade, my little sister was a girl scout, and we always got their brochures with all the camps and stuff in it. There was one that looked really interesting, apparently the girl scouts were sponsoring an FLL team. It sounded pretty cool so I became an illegal girl scout for a while just to do robotics. Sadly the team died out the second year, but I was hungry for more robotics. Then when I was in eighth grade, my older sister had a lot of friends from band that were on a robotics team. They let eighth graders on and so I showed up at one meeting and was hooked. My first year I was the pit boss and safety captain, and now I am the lead programmer since the lead programmer from last year graduated.

FIRST changes you in a lot of ways, before being on the team, I wanted to be a professional dancer. But now that I've had a taste of the world of engineering, I don't want to leave it.

[Allison]

When I was a junior in high school...I was sitting in A+ Certification class when the teacher strongly encouraged me to join this new robotics team that they were starting. I was hesitant yet he made sure I got my application in (I wasn't very good at turning things in on time). I thought I wanted to work on computers then and had no idea if I was going to college or what I was going to do. I ended up attended Purdue and getting a BSMET, while I was there I happened to be walking to class as a sophomore and walked over a call out flier for Purdue FIRST and thought why not. The rest is history I will forever be a FIRST mentor thanks to an amazing group of kids that taught me that while the robot is an important avenue for teaching engineering, FIRST has a lot more to offer than just robots.

[XXShadowXX]

A robotics team was starting my junior year in high school. I was kinda interested but i had a large class load. Grant (who was a senior) attended a meeting, and saw some match video of team 1718, kept trying to convince me to join. Finally one day he handed me a application and said show up today after school in the physics room. I did.

[Koko Ed]

My wife (ex-wife actually but were still on speaking terms so I still call her mine) got me involved because I had the opportunity to get my hands on 3D Studio Max. So I eagerly jumped at the chance.
Seven years later and i still can't figure out how to use it.