Why did you join FIRST?

[vivek16]

I was misinformed.

I guess my story is a little boring compared to others but the day of the pre-kickoff meeting, my friend told me it was like battle bots and I figured I would see what it was. I was a freshman and it was the rookie year of the team. We had 5 dedicated members at the end of that year, 4 went to the regional. 3 years later, we've grown significantly and there isn't an end in sight (for both me and the team ).

-Vivek

[scottmacdonald]

In grade 7 I went to see my brother (grade 9 at the time) and the Coyobot compete in "Aim High" (in my opinion the best game) I saw it again in grade 8 and when grade 9 came around I went to see him in the lab one day in early January and I was "recruited."

[LilGrohnke2013]

I joined FIRST because my elementary school wanted to start a team and I like math and science, so I decided to see what it was all about. 4 years later, I'm still involved and on an FTC team in my Jr. High we were the first FTC team in our county!

[robotlover]

I'm not sure if I've told this story yet, but last year in myy freshman year one of my mentors Mr. J was my biology teacher and one day at the end of class he showed us this really amazing video about robotics. I saw it and was like OMG I HAVE TO JOIN!!!! but last year i got too distracted with other things and then this year I was determined to join and I started of with VEX and continued onto FRC and now i'm addicted

[DustinWyke]

hmm.. lets see...
i joined because a few of my really close friends where in robotics and they wanted me to join. I mainly joined in the beginning to hang with them and all but my motives have changed. now im here to learn .. and have fun.. XD

[Zyik]

Originally Posted by DustinWyke

hmm.. lets see...
i joined because a few of my really close friends where in robotics and they wanted me to join. I mainly joined in the beginning to hang with them and all but my motives have changed. now im here to learn .. and have fun.. XD

You, Cheif Delphi and FIRST, can thank/blame me for that one.

My story tho... hmm, lets see.

I was in Jr. High School and there was an announcement over the intercom about a robotics club. I inquired, and was indoctrinated into Lego League. After that, it was a natural jump to the FRC team at the highschool where I've been ever since. I'm coming back to my team to mentor since I'm going to the local college, Cal Poly San Luis. FIRST has it's hooks in me, and I doubt I'll ever be able, or want to, get them out.

[Lydia Johnston]

I joined my school's robotics team this year only intending to stay on during the pre-season to work on the safety animation, because I thought I wanted to be an animator and design games. Then build season and Systems Integration happened, and now I intend to stay on the team for the rest of high school, become a FIRST mentor during and after college, and become a systems engineer when I grow up.

FIRST has significantly and unexpectedly changed my life. =)

[R Stephenson]

11 years ago, i was 7, my dad started to mentor 270 and brought me to the shops. I've been addicted ever since.

[blaxbb]

Lets start with my story

So sophomore year, two weeks before kickoff I realized i wasn't going to have much to do (cross-country ended and still had 4 more months until track) so I figured i would join this robotics team that the Tech Drawing teacher asked me to. Also two of my cousins were on team 25 (if i had known that i was getting into that HUGE competition they always talked about I might have been scared out of it...hurray for ignorance!!!). So two weeks after I joined...electrical sub-team leader (never touched a tool before) . A few months later Junior Team Leader. The next year i was team leader. In about 6 long months I will be at Ohio State University mentoring one of the teams that OSU helps. (i hope)

Some other strange ones from our team:

"I think I am in the wrong room" -Programming lead this year (his rookie year)
"I need to do something before practice" - helped quite a bit with build this year
"I heard you guys melt electronics, I could probably help." - someone who ended up joining

[waialua359]

This is easily the best thread this season.
Its great to hear about all of you.
As I read Al's story (Wildstang), I had coincidentally heard it from Andy Baker at the Hawaii regional as he was talking about Raul and Al this past weekend. Nothing but nice things to say......
I got to talk to Raul a lot at SVR where he was a ref for the matches. What a great competitor!

[Kimmeh]

A couple of my friends joined the team's rookie year (08). I almost did but eventually didn't due to transportation issues. Then the team makes it to Atlanta, I used to live about an hour from Atlanta. That was part of the reason for joining, but I'm glad that I did. (And we're not going to Atlanta. I love irony.) I'm bummed that I didn't find a way to join last year.

[ChristinaR]

I wish I had a great inspirational story (that's more like after I joined FIRST...), but I'll be honest - at the time, I figured it would look good for college. I knew a few people on the team, but they didn't have much to say about it. I went to the introductory presentation for students and parents, and my dad happened to be long time friends with the art team coach. I got the forms and the rest is history.
I'm waiting for the "What happened after you joined FIRST?" thread...

[andrew348]

My shop teacher (the main team mentor) brainwashed (well wouldn't stop talking about it until i joined) me into doing it.

[Brad Voracek]

I just kind of... Fell into it.

In '05 I watched Triple Play. Then I started high school, joined the team, and haven't looked back since.


I'm hooked.

[thefro526]

I Joined FIRST because it looked fun.

My Freshman year I joined 816. We were one of those teams that was just kind of "Meh". We never really were that awesome or great or anything but it was fun none the less. MY first FRC event was Duel on the Delaware 2005. It was awesome and perhaps one of my fondest FIRST memories, but I didn't really appreciate Triple Play for what it was. So, I was still kinda on the fence about the whole robotics thing.

I stayed in FIRST because of Vex.

One day in mid-October my Shop Teacher (head robotics mentor) asked me if I wanted to be on the Vex team. It was awesome and I was hooked. It was my first experience into the world of FIRST and I was baptized by Fire. I was the Freshman Captain of an all Senior and Junior team (except myself) and we were top 8 in our first competition. It was epic.