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Unread 16-05-2010, 11:16
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?

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.
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Unread 16-05-2010, 23:06
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?

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!
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Unread 17-05-2010, 08:28
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rotolomi rotolomi is offline
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?

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.
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Unread 18-05-2010, 02:23
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Garret Garret is offline
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?

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.
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Unread 18-05-2010, 11:08
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Captain Slacker Captain Slacker is offline
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?

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
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Unread 29-03-2009, 21:14
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?

Quote:
Originally Posted by SamC View Post
The robotics team is basically the only extracurricular at my school so I always knew about it. But then I found out that you got to go on trips for the competitions, so I joined. After the first year I returned not only for the traveling but mainly for the robots and different learning opportunities.
And, as I recall, we not only roped you in, but your dad, and your brother is waiting his time to join...
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Unread 30-03-2009, 07:47
Unsung FIRST Hero
Al Skierkiewicz Al Skierkiewicz is offline
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?

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.
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Unread 29-03-2009, 21:01
Scott Morgan Scott Morgan is offline
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?

My team had a demo with their stack attack bot at my freshman orientation. I was really interested because robots are awesome, so I signed up to join the team. However, I forgot about it and didn't end up going until one of my friends invited me to one of the meetings several weeks later.
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Unread 29-03-2009, 20:56
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich Kressly View Post
A few individual stories, including mine, are here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/1583 Compiling a recent set of these kind of stories from a wide variety of sources can be a powerful tool in your region.

Thanks. I searched through the threads for something similar, but I didn't think about documents or anything.

Although I still like hearing people's stories. Keep 'em coming!
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Unread 29-03-2009, 21:03
DarkFlame145 DarkFlame145 is offline
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?

I first fount out about FIRST when I was my my boyscout meetings (I made it all the way to Eagle), I noticed that all of my older friends (freshman at the time) where coming into the meetings late. After a few weeks I asked why they where always late, they told me about first and for 3 long years all I wanted to do was FIRST. Finally my Freshman year of High School came around and I got on the team asap. I went from a Rookie Welder for Team 145 to one of the more influential members of the team by the time I was done with my Student career. When I moved to Orlando, I didn't want my FIRST career to be over so I started asking around about teams in the area and became a College mentor for 1902.

I know I gave my whole FIRST history, but it was because of my older friends talking about FIRST and getting me hooked that started the madness I love.
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Unread 29-03-2009, 21:16
harleywhite harleywhite is offline
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?

Because my mom told me to... kind of.

I've been around the Bomb Squad since 2001 (I think) so I pretty much grew up with the team. (FIRST is a way of life at my house.) I have always known I would be on the team one way or another and there was no escaping. So after a year and a half of being in FIRST officially, I am pretty much addicted.
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Unread 29-03-2009, 22:54
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?

Quote:
Originally Posted by harleywhite View Post
Because my mom told me to...
Oh, she's never done anything her mom told her to

The reason her mom got involved and "forced" the FIRST lifestyle on all 3 of her kids is more interesting:

The nicest man in the world told me he wouldn't be a very good husband because he had "a thing for robots." Not to be deterred by this admittedly bizarre attempt to avoid commitment, I decided to investigate this "hobby" of his. He even signed me up to volunteer at our FLL tournament the weekend before our wedding. It was about the most fun I had ever had...poor guy...
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Unread 29-03-2009, 21:35
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?

I was about to write a massive post until I realized it became my entire first history. So here's the shorter version.

In 2006, my "house parent" (live in mentor at a boarding school I went to) wanted me to try out robotics, so I joined the FVC team the school started. We ran into our share of problems, but what really got me going was the competition. The frenzy of scrambling to get our robot together, then helping out other teams witht he same problems while talking to a wide variety of kids was amazing. We ended up being 8th seed and losing right away.

It's what motivated me to start a team with my friend and my dad in 2007, FTC 63 "The Rebels". The idea is that we both left our boarding school for various reasons, so we were joining to compete with them (that and our love of the competition). We really had no idea what we were doing, so we showed up with a barely working robot. My teammate and I had a fight and she quit while I proceeded to take apart our robot to try and salvage the chassis.

At this point, a team I helped out from Wisconsin Lutheran High came by and helped me out. I was 5 seconds from quitting and they wouldn't let me. Finally we got the four wheeled... thing on the field and I ended up helping out in every match with strategy. I was the third pick of the 1st seed alliance and long story short I qualified for Atlanta entirely because of the brilliant amazing kids in Wisconsin Lutheran.

Right there I knew that I couldn't quit FIRST, it was WAY too much fun. Luckily, one of the event volunteers was on an FRC team with Vex parts so they agreed to let me use theirs to compete in Atlanta. Long story short, everything in Atlanta went wrong, but I had fun the whole way through, and then the FRC team invited me to join them for 2008-9 I just couldn't say no. Every single hour long drive to the shop is worth it.
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Last edited by Chris is me : 29-03-2009 at 21:37.
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Unread 29-03-2009, 22:25
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Abra Cadabra IV Abra Cadabra IV is offline
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?

I actually got dragged into FIRST through Girl Scouts. About mid-2007, I got a flyer in the mail advertising a robotics program for girls. It was mostly targeting FLL-age kids (there's a zillion Girl Scout FLL teams in the area) but it did have something for people my age. My mother convinced me to apply to join, and I went along with it, thinking that it would be another generic activity that would be over in a month or two.

That "something" turned out to be one of the first Girl Scout FTC teams - Team 25, the Rock-n-Roll Robots. That first year, we had 7 girls and 3 mentors. One of the girls was a former member of Robodox, and one of the mentors was a former member of WildStang. Nobody else had much FIRST experience or (in the case of the girls, myself included, any robotics or engineering experience whatsoever) any robotics experience whatsoever. We had a rough start in the beginning, placing dead last in our first competition, but after a huge re-design we went on to take 2nd place at two regionals plus winning the Inspire Award (equivalent to Chairman's in FTC) and qualifying for Atlanta. And then when we got to Atlanta, not only did we win an award, we also ended up taking second place.

That something inspired me to join my school's rookie FRC team the same year. That was a whole different experience; we had trouble with mentors and funding and our first year was not so great, but we won the Rookie All-Star Award at our regional and in the process got inspired by all the other teams out there.

That something opened up a whole new world for me. It let me find something I love to do, and it let me make friends and it let me be part of FIRST, something which I will never give up.

Things have come a long way since then; 2429 was proud to be a picking alliance at Los Angeles this year (even if we did lose in the first round), while Rock-n-Roll is coming back to Atlanta after being a strong force at every regional we've attended. And I am so incredibly glad that I got that flyer in the mail.
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Last edited by Abra Cadabra IV : 29-03-2009 at 22:26. Reason: comprehension
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Unread 29-03-2009, 22:55
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Talking Re: Why did you join FIRST?

I wish that I had the opportunity to join a FIRST team in High School. My senior year I found out that such a thing existed, but it was only open to students taking specific courses.

I did however have a few friends on the team... And did some material "acquisitions" for them. I was working as a computer technician at a machine shop at the time.

I started working for that same High School about two years ago. When I got the job they asked me if I would be interested in sponsoring the team, as no other teachers or employees were interested in sponsoring the team.

I am now at the point where I spend 40 hours at work a week, and probably another 25-30 hours per week on robotics. We are currently trying to take a barely functioning program, and reconstruct it into a world class organization. As you all know these things don't happen over night.

We are especially thankful to our sponsors:
MOTOROLA
CENTOCOR
Hatboro-Horsham Education Foundation
Upper Moreland Education Foundation

I deeply enjoy seeing students who are enthusiastic about their prospects, and work hard to accomplish their goals. That is why I am an adviser for TEAM 708 - Hardwired Fusion.
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