Why did you join FIRST?

[Katie_UPS]

[Kelsey Draus]

My mom told me that she was going to take me to see a Frank Lloyd Wright house, in Chicago. I fell asleep in the car, and when i woke up, we were at the UIC pavillion. My mom told me that we were just stopping by so that my brother could see some of the robotics competition that was going on. Needless to say, I was dragged into the competition to watch a few matches, after i walked around the pits I had decided that I wanted to be involved in FIRST. That year I helped out with my brother's FLL team quite a bit with their presentations and displays and little stuff like that. Later that summer I was recruited to help out with a robotics summer camp, because I was good with the little kids (most of the guys on the team weren't soo great). After meeting all the kids on the team at the camp and finding out that i didn't need any prior experience to join the team, by the end of the week, I was hooked on robotics. Now I don't even know what I would do without it It was even cooler to compete at the midwest competition, a year after when i saw it for the first time.

(also i should probably throw in there, my first year on the team i was the only one from St. Charles, and the only one from my school, batavia was the closest team around. it was really fun, so anyone who has issues with joining a team because they don't know anyone, you meet a gagillion new people who are probably way cooler than friends that you had before)

[xxjgdancexx]

I did not know of my robotics team until school registration for my freshman year in high school. I signed up, went to the first few meetings and i was hooked. I love the grunge work in gerneral such as cannibalizing old robots and then building the new one. Thats pretty much my story....can't wait till next season!!!! ^___^
P.S. I love the term "nerd" lolz

[exprg:melonhead]

went on a field trip to the 08 competition. i was, at the time, working on a couple robots for science olympiad. the competition for FIRST was way more fun, and i recognized a few friends on the team. i decided to grab my best buddy (how he got started) and talk to the robotics coach about joining. that was the best move of my life.

[Bethie42]

First I'd like to applaud the poster above this [kazzykaty]...the 'little stuff that the guys won't do' is very important to the success of a team...no food = no robot...no planning = no robot....no organization/logistics = no robot....ANYWAYS.

FIRST has been part of our family's life since 2002 when my dad [teacher at small private school] got, as he says, lured into FIRST...enticed by Dean Kamen's inventions....hehe. This resulted in him started a team at the school, and some years teaching/facilitating a robotics class.
As little-kid, I saw Dad come back late every night during build season, but didn't really know what it was about until 2006 when our team went on the road to the Sacramento regional. That was Step 1 on the path to robotics-addiction. I wish it were feasible to ship a big load of students to all our regionals, it would result in a lot of new recruits....

I sort of forgot about robotics until two years later [freshman] when, about two weeks before regionals, I got randomly recruited to be a scout [that was the year we had 5 people on the team]. I got completely hooked, although all through middle school and part of high school I hated math and never thought I'd do anything with engineering [now I enthuse over math and want to go into computer science].

The next year I was filming a movie in my spare time and wound up not doing much, except scout at competition....but now [2010] I am the most enthused person on the team, I believe. Going to Championships with another local team [as videographer] helped with that

Next year we have only 3 students returning [graduating-genius problem] but I am more dedicated than ever....you know you're a FIRST junkie when you fill out an end-of-season NASA grant survey with endless praise for FIRST...sit back, and realize you meant every word.

I tend to view FIRST-the-organization with a jaundiced eye but [to quote another CD member] I'd still throw myself under a bus for FIRST-the-idea.

[carolyn]

I never wanted to be an engineer when I was younger, actually until sophomore year I was dead-set against becoming an engineer. I slowly became open to the idea of engineering by attending two free engineering camps over the past few summers. This past summer, many of the kids were on the topic of their robotics teams quite a few times, and I asked them to explain it to me. Once I had gotten the concept down, they really encouraged me to join a team when I got back home (thanks again Maddie from 2486, Nitesh from 461, and Hanne from 3006!). When home, I decided to start looking up teams in my area I could join. Surprisingly enough to me, although I had received several polite declinations due to school liability issues, I received many teams willing to let me join as well! I chose to join team 348, Norwell Robotics. As soon as I started attending meetings, I realized all of the fun I had missed out by only discovering the world of FIRST in my senior year. I decided to try and make this year count for all the many teams willing to let me join as well! I chose to join team 348, Norwell Robotics, who were only 20 minutes away. As soon as I started attending meetings, I realized all of the fun I had missed out by only discovering the world of FIRST in my senior year. I decided to try and make this year count for all the year’s I had missed. At first it was a challenge because I didn’t know a single person on the team, but that quickly changed. After spending countless days and nights working on the robot this year and going to the WPI Regional and Championships, I know that I made one of the best choices of my life.

[MagiChau]

Mine isn't rally exciting. I saw the 2009 robot in 8th grade during a demonstration and said cool I want to build a robot next year. When there was an announcement on when the informative meeting I went and signed up.
I probably am going to make some new member's reason to join at FIRST(see what I did there? :O) is we have mountain dew xD bribery but it might get them addicted to FIRST and dew at the same time.

[lil'est lavery]

I've been exposed to FIRST for quite some time. It's difficult to remember exactly how it all happened.

[paragon571]

so my brother the team after they were honored at our board of ed meeting and he was there for unified sports and then i walked into orientation and mr moore our mentor said you are signing up and so my brother brought my dad and i brought my mom.

[pSYeNCe]

My story:

When I was eight years old I got my second robotics kit, a Robotics Invention System set by Lego. Inside, along with the Lego parts, was a pamphlet describing FIRST Lego League, and it made me interested in FIRST. I was hooked on the kit, of course, and I was on a Lego League team for 2 years once they got it in our school. And now here I am on a FRC team!

[rotolomi]

there was an FLL team in my middle school, but from the time I was 10-13 I couldn't care less. My dad (Don Rotolo) was (and still is) a mentor on the district robotics team and tried to get me to show interest. We built and programmed a Vex robot when I was 12 and I watched all of the team's competitions on the live webcast (even though I had no clue as to what was going on). Come freshman year, my dad tells me I should come to a meeting and I laughed- I was a cheerleader and I didn't think robotics would be ANY fun. Grudgingly, I attended a new members meeting and agreed to volunteer for Pascack Pandamonium, an off-season event we held that year. I had fun, but I still wasn't sure if I wanted to commit to the team. Within the first week of build season, I found robotics after school to be the best part of my day. I made tons of new friends plus I was having a blast working on the mechanical subteam (wooo power tools! ). Now, robotics is definitely the best thing that's happened- I know what I want to do for the rest of my life, I made some of my closest friends, and I'm constantly exposed to new experiences that you just won't learn in a classroom.

[Garret]

I got involved with FIRST in 6th grade after seeing the Hart High school team's 2004 FRC Robot at my first FLL tournament. After seeing their robot I was hooked on robotics and have been involved every year since. I have since started FLL programs at my junior high, the local charter schools, and a homeschool team. I currently mentor FLL teams every year and am hoping to restart the FLL programs at the elementary schools where I first started. I joined FRC in 2008 by chance in that the Hart team ended up being dropped and picked at my highschool under the same team number. The Hart Team is now the Hart district robotics team and is currently composed of three highschools and we hope to grow again this year. I currently am one the Hartburn team leaders and have dragged my whole family into FIRST. My dad currently is now currently the lead mentor for Hartburn, my brother is the team president, and I am the mechanical lead.
FIRST has become the main thing I do and the thing people attribute me.

[Captain Slacker]

In the seventh grade my best friend and I used to record conversations before class every day. One of my favorite recordings started with me commenting on her orange and blue braces. Her reply was "YEAH! Paragon colors. I mean, I know it's totally a boy thing to do, but I think I wanna join. Arjun is on it now" I remember thinking she was crazy, mainly because I had no idea what she was talking about. Then, in ninth grade, she was talking about joining. I was hesitant because I knew that it was going to take up a lot of time. I decided to go to one meeting, and I'm so glad I did. I instantly fell in love with the atmosphere and the people who were just there to have a good time. I had never picked up a tool in my life, but one of the mentors immediately explained everything to me. He then went out to the car and got my mom, who was making calls for Girl Scouts. Bash At the Beach was just a few weeks later, and by that time we were absolutely hooked