How FIRST has impacted my life!

Before I got into FRC, First Robotics Competitions, I had never really been able to stay on a team sport or competition ever since I got back from living in Mexico.

I was always the shy kid.  Whenever I joined a team I felt as if I didn’t belong or fit in, for everyone seemed so different than I was; until I was lucky enough to go to one of my dad's work's barbeques in a park.   Where, surely enough, I spotted a robot amongst the crowd and it was love at first sight.   I would never have guessed that there was a team competition that had robots in it, but I quickly realized that it was not all about robots.   When I joined it was about the end of October, during the off-season, and it did not take long before I made friends. 

The season started rather slowly for me because we were designing for about 3 to 4 weeks, it was not all that fun but necessary for building the robot. Once we started building, things got interesting very quickly. I finally got to fully operate the machines at BRT, a machine shop that we build our robots at, that I had been certified on during the off-season.   Piece by piece the robot was finally built and was somewhat ready for competition because we ran out of time while debugging the robot.  The competitions where the best, so much excitement, so many other cool robots, and it got even better because I was one of the drivers for my robot.  We did not win the competition but we got many other awards. In the end I am thankful for the FRC program because it gave me the opportunity to be with people whom have similar interests and to also make many new friends.

-Nick Z.

How FIRST has impacted my life!

I want to start off by telling you my name; my name is Lindsay.  I am a three year member of The Flying Platypi, and I am currently the President of Team 2655. 

I’m not the typical student of FIRST; I haven’t been involved since I was in elementary school.  I got involved in FIRST when I was a freshman in high school.  My older brother had been on the team for three years and my dad was the coach.  They both said I should come and see what they were doing.  I had already seen some of what had been going on because when the team first started off they worked out of my family’s garage.  I remember them building the robot in the middle of my kitchen floor and I was curious about what they were doing.  When my dad started talking to me about it; I decided to go to one meeting just to see what it was like.  At that first meeting, I knew I was hooked, and I have been dedicated to the FIRST mission ever since. 

In my freshman year when I first joined the Flying Platypi I had no idea what I was doing, but I jumped in feet first.  As a freshman I was appointed to be secretary, and I also jumped into the team’s outreach through the marketing department.  I was also one of the three girls who created the Platypi costume that puts smiles on many people’s faces.  As a sophomore, I continued to grow in what I was learning.  I became the head of the marketing department and was the team’s safety captain.    During the summer I learned website coding from a graduating alumnus, branched out into electrical and mechanical, and was nominated as President.  I've worked with the team's marketing, safety and awards departments as well as being involved in team leadership. I helped wire the electrical on the robot we use for demonstrations, helped write multiple award essays, and have organized many outreach events.  

FIRST has impacted my life by giving me the opportunity to be a part of something bigger than myself.  It has let me touch the lives of so many people whether they realize it or not and in turn has touched my life.  It inspired me to reach out to younger girls and get them involved.  For my Girl Scout Gold award, I started an all-girl FIRST Lego League (FLL) team.  My whole reason for starting an all-girl FLL team was to get more girls involved in FIRST, so that they might have the chances I have been given through the program.  

FIRST has also solidified my passion for science.  I am certain that when I graduate high school; I want to go onto college and major in Biology with a focus in genetics.  I have always wanted to help people and feel that I can do something I am passionate about and help people at the same time.  When I get out of college I want to do research and hopefully find a cure for breast cancer, sickle cell anemia, or just help one person.  FIRST has solidified my passion for helping people by the way the program helps get students involved in something that will truly better their futures.  

Before I got involved in FIRST, I hadn’t truly found myself.  FIRST has helped me figure out who I truly am, and has helped me open up with others.  It has made me sure about what I want to do with my future and all the people I want by my side along the way.  FIRST has helped me meet many people who are going to be my friends for life.  It has helped me realize what my purpose in life truly is; to help people.  It has given me the confidence I have needed to do this and more.  FIRST truly is an amazing program that can change anyone’s life that is willing to try.  I may not have been involved in the program for as long as some, but I have a firm belief in the program that has pushed me to spread it to as many people as possible.  I hope that one other person will be influenced by FIRST like I have because it has truly has changed my life.  I don’t know where I would be without FIRST.

-Lindsay

Adventures of a Dean's List Finalist Day 2

Okay so this should've gone up almost a week ago.  Insert reasonable excuse here.  Moving on:

The second day of Championships started off with opening ceremonies.  Just like Thursday, the Edward Jones Dome was packed with students, parents, and mentors from all levels of FIRST.  Unfortunately, I was so wrapped up in what was going on I forgot to take a picture during the actual ceremony.  Here's one from the day before.  Opening ceremonies looked just like this with only many, many more people:

Both Woodie Flowers and Dean Kamen spoke at opening ceremonies but I'd especially like to highlight what Woodie talked about.  I should just come out and say I think Woodie Flowers is absolutely awesome.  I had the privilege of meeting him at the North Carolina Regional last year and again at the Peachtree Regional this year and he made a great impression on me.   When Woodie talks to you, he always seems genuinely interested in what you have to say; an amazing thing for a man who meets thousands of teens who are all dying just to shake his hand.

This year at opening ceremonies Woodie Flowers talked about the feelings that students in FIRST experience.  Sure, anyone who has had any experience with FIRST has heard stories from multiple students about how awesome the program is, how much fun it can be and how much can be learned from it.  But what Woodie talked about was a little different; he talked about the doubts that team members can experience, most specifically the "Why am I even doing this?" feeling that can come all to often in the middle of build season (or any stressful time).

Woodie pointed out that everyone has two different "selves";  a "present self" and a "remembering self".  The "present self" experiences the stress, the frustration or even anger that is associated with every situation and has to find a way to cope with them.  The "remembering self" on the other hand can choose to experience only the joyful or pleasant memories that are associated with any particular event.  Woodie then explained that every student (or mentor, or parent) works so hard for FIRST (whether it be through spending extra time at the machine shop, staying up all night writing an essay, taking the time to show a new student the ropes, or even offering to make a pizza run) so our "remembering selves" can look back and enjoy the fruits that came out of our "present selves" hard work.

This message really clicked with me.  Being an almost nine-year FIRST student, I've put a lot of my time (and my parent's time) into the program.  But through all the work, I can honestly say that some of my favorite memories are in one way or the other related to FIRST.

Anyway, the rest of the day was filled with walking around the pit areas of every level of FIRST and watching matches in the Edward Jones Dome.  Finally, it was noon and time for the Dean's List ceremony.  I'm not really sure what I expected of the ceremony but when I walked into a huge ballroom with the other finalists and I saw a stage and crazy lights my first thought was "This is incredible".  The ceremony itself was really nice, Dean Kamen spoke about the value of all of the finalists; that all the work we put into the program is appreciated by not only him, but the future generations of FIRST students.  Then, after more than an hour of speeches, the winners were announced.  While I was not one of the winners chosen, I would like  to say HUGE congratulations to David Gomez, member of Team #3196 SPORK, on becoming a Dean's List Winner! It's so awesome that someone from North Carolina finally won!

After the winners were announced the ceremony wrapped up pretty quickly and it was time to get to the airport and head home.  It was an awesome ( and tiring) two days but I'm so glad I was able to go.  Being a finalist was such a huge honor, one that I still can't believe I've received.  Let's just say my "remembering self" is incredibly happy.

Huge thanks to:
My parents: For dedicating so much time to FIRST all year round for the last eight years.  From helping me google things for my FLL research project, to driving me to all sorts of outreach events, to mentoring the team, my parents are the best parents any FIRST student could ask for.  Seriously, they're amazing.

Marie Hopper: For getting me hooked on FLL all those years ago. And for not letting me quit when the boys scared my 11 year old self.  I wouldn't even be in FIRST without Marie.

My sister: For showing me how to be a dedicated leader.  And fielding the late night "I don't remember how to form sentences, help me please" emails.

All the Team 2655 mentors: Because they're the literal best.

-Annalise