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#1
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?
In the year of 2008 I got sucked into the vortex known as FIRST. My chemistry teacher just randomly came up to me one day, and said, hey we are starting a robotics team here at the high school would you be interested. She described it as a project that you work on with members from JPL. My thoughts back then were: "Oh cool I can work on robotics, and do the stuff that JPL does like the Mars rover". Which I now think is a weird first thought to have. We started the club with just four members, including myself and we moved to little robots (half of the size of those used in FTC games). After that another teacher came in and told us about a competition in January, and the entire team [since it was or Rookie Year] had no idea what was going on until the kickoff day hit, and then we were thrown into the mess not knowing really where to start. We had sign ups for who wanted to be on drive build, attachments, programming,strategy,ect..., and I choose programming, which was odd back then because I felt obligated to despite the fact, that back then I hated programming because the only thing I ever programmed was 3D video game, which was extremely frustrating. As the club grew, the programming part of the team started with six, by the end of the second week, I was the last one in the programming group, but I did not pull out. We had very little mentor help, and the entire team didn't have much, if any experience with engineering. Through persistence and determination we got to the LA Regionals that year, and won the Rookie All-Star Award, went to Nationals in Atlanta, Georgia, and by that time we had grown to twenty members, we didn't win anything, but it was an incredible experience for our team! This second year we were placed 7th, and 6th seeded team. We didn't win any awards at the regionals, but this past second year was more of a learning experience to find out how to become a strong veteran team. I never regretting joining the club or just dropping out because of the lack of people in the club (in the beginning), and never wavered when it came to my tasks as the only programmer for the team for the past two years. Since I am a senior this past year I had to choose a replacement, which was the hardest thing to do, knowing that I was being replaced, and that I was leaving as a student competitor. On the brighter side, I do plan to come back and mentor when I can during college, and later on as well.
Last edited by ExarKun666 : 09-06-2009 at 18:38. |
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#2
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?
My brother said I had to otherwise he'd beat me up.
True. |
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#3
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?
well now your glad he made the threat arent you??
i joined FIRST unknowingly. when i joined robotics last year, i thought it was just a bunch of nerds getting together and building a robot for fun. then i heard a competition was coming up, and i got curious. i talked to a friend who was already on the team, and he explained the concept of FIRST. the first competition i went to was BE 6... i got a glimpse of rack n' roll... after that i was hooked, and proud of it!! |
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#4
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?
brunswick eruption --- getting people hooked on first since (at least) 2002
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#5
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?
Back in 2003, I was homeschooled and was involved in very few activities, but I always had a passion for science, technology, and "the way things work." Anway, so one night I was watching the Discovery Channel and saw a documentary about this thing called FIRST Robotics. They followed three teams through the competition season. All I remember thinking is that it was really cool, and I would love to be involved some day, but I thought it was only for "that group" of super-elite young geniuses that I could never be a part of. Oh well. I quickly forgot about it and never thought I'd see anything about FIRST again. Being very young at the time, I didn't remember detials such as team numbers and such. I just remembered it was called FIRST, it was about robots, and the detailed rules to Stack Attack (not sure why I held onto those particular details).
Fast forward to 2007. FIRST had grown significantly. I moved, and my parents decided it was time to let me out into the world with public high school. At the beginning of my sophomore year, I heard about a local FIRST Robotics team. My mind went back to the Discovery Channel documentary from years ago. I didn't remember much, but I did remember that it was something I had liked and wanted to try. I decided to go to a meeting to check things out. It is nerve-wracking to think of how close I was to not joining. I missed the official informational meeting at the beginning of the school year, and almost decided to just forget about the idea. Then, after going to a (rather boring) first meeting, I wondered if the program was worth 20+ hours/week of my time during this six-week period they called, "build season." In the end, though, I decided to stay and give the program a shot for one year. I now consider that to be the greatest decision of my life. This past build season - my senior year and the last with my current team - couldn't have been a better cap. I got to see my team win its first ever Championship award - for the design of a component I was directly involved in creating. But perhaps the best part is, it took me until my senior year to realize that the team I was on - Team 339, "Kilroy" - was one of the three teams covered in the 2003 documentary. Yes, that very group of students and mentors I remember seeing on TV six years ago, wishing but never daring to believe that I could one day join their ranks, I am now a part of. Needless to say, I no longer have doubts that anything is possible, no matter how unlikely. ![]() |
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#6
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?
Back in 2003, my brother got involved at Londonderry High School in founding team 1058 The Dragoons (Later renamed the PVC Pirates from their 2004 robot that resembled a pirate ship). I went to GSR with some other homeschooled friends and we started an FLL team that fall. I competed two more years after that in another FLL team and then took a break from FIRST in 2007 to take some computer and engineering classes at BAE. At that point, I didn't know if I desired to pursue engineering anymore and that was when my brother began to pester me to get involved with FRC as he saw that I would be good at it based on what he saw from mentoring my FLL teams. Some friends I had met through homeschooling recommended that I join Mechanical MAYHEM and I did for the 2008 season, and have stayed on.
Getting back into FIRST was one of the best decisions I've ever made. And now I am working to get my younger brothers involved with FLL. |
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#7
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?
My siblings, on the team its rookie year, would prolly beat me up now for my contributions. Its crazy how they just thought of it as an "after school thing" and I see it as a lifestyle. I reallly like the stories. ![]() |
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#8
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?
Quote:
Amazing. |
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#9
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?
Quote:
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#10
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?
FIRST didn't exist at our high school when I graduated from there in 1995.
I did spend all my free periods and time after school hanging around the wood and metal shops working on projects. After I graduated I still kept in touch with some of the teachers. In 1998 the woodshop teacher decided to begin a FIRST team at the school. He had some students interested and was looking at getting some mentors together. Needless to say I found out about FIRST when I stopped in at the school one day and choose to become part of it. He was able to get enough people and support that Team 237 (Sie-H20-Bots) was formed in the fall of 1998 to compete in the FIRST's 1999 season that January. I'm still with the team, one of the few original people from when the team was created. There was two seasons I missed many meetings due to work schedule changes but I like being part of the team and it gives me something to do for the winter months. I just hate traveling and only been to a few comps. The build is more fun for me. |
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#11
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?
My father knew the mentor of our school's robotics team and when I became a sophomore, my dad told me I had to join the robotics team. I didn't argue with my dad and just figured I would show up at a meeting here and there and hopefully lose credit & get kicked out. I dragged my best friend, Heather, to the first meeting.
We both slowly got more and more involved. We were good at getting the little things done that most people think are unimportant to the team and the guys wouldn't do. But they HAD to get done so we did them. Before you knew it, we made the travel team.. maybe just because they needed to bring two more girls to fill a room. But before I knew it, I was project manager and had brought 6 additional girls to the team because of my passion for Team 223. At first I thought it was just a stupid, geeky club. But now it's my entire life. I can't imagine life without FIRST robotics. |
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#12
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?
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#13
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?
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) ![]() Last edited by Kelsey Draus : 14-05-2010 at 00:26. |
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#14
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?
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. |
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#15
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Re: Why did you join FIRST?
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.
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