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

Adventures of a Dean's List Finalist

I woke up this morning experiencing a weird mixture of "Oh no it's time to get up" and "Yay St. Louis!". Between the weekend of the North Carolina Regional and now my excitement for the Championship has been slowly, but surely, growing.  I became a Dean's List Finalist the first weekend of April, definitely one of the more shocking moments of my FIRST life.  I was fortunate enough to have been able to attend the Championship event in St. Louis even though my team itself did not qualify for the event.

After flying into St. Louis this morning,  my parents and I walked over to the Edward Jones Dome to check out the event.  Even just walking towards the Dome, it was easy to tell that there was a FIRST event in town.  Colorful t-shirts,  crazy hats and teens sporting safety glasses were everywhere.   Passing teams on the street, I could hear snatches of conversations about robots, the venue and their team's chances against the competition.

Finally, we arrived the entrance of the Dome and were greeted by this sign:

As per instructions, I headed straight towards pit administration to check in as a Dean's List Finalist.  Along with an incredibly nice welcome from the volunteers, I was given this:

 Only in FIRST would receiving a button mean so much (:


After checking in with pit admin, I really had nothing specific I had to do.  Honestly, being at a FIRST event without a team is incredibly weird.  Most of the time at tournaments everyone's schedules are full from interviews, social events and, of course, robot runs.  Being without a team, I was free to walk around  the entire pit area, including all the sponsor booths, college row and, my absolute favorite, the FIRST Lego League pit area.

As most people know, I got my start in FIRST through FLL when I was 10.  I also had the opportunity to go to FIRST Championships while on an FLL team when I was 13.  I remembering being so amazed by all of the teams there and at the "big kids" who were part of FRC.  Being able to go back and visit the next generation of FIRST students is an awesome opportunity that makes me realize how fantastic this program really is.  You can experience many things walking around the FLL section of Championships. For example:

A team from Japan can ask you to attach a paper flower to a tree to help decorate their pit area:

Or you can see a bunch of bicycles that a team from the Netherlands is donating to a conservation organization in St. Louis:

Or, if you're extremely lucky, you could run into Dean Kamen talking to a team while surrounded by people taking pictures:

Obviously, I had a great time talking to kids and seeing all sorts of amazing things (:

I spent the rest of the day walking around the pit areas and watching a few matches inside the Edward Jones Dome.  It was awesome.  And, as if my day couldn't get any better, I met Buzz Lightyear.  It was cool.

Tomorrow is the official Dean's List Ceremony where the 10 winners of the Dean's List Award will be revealed.  While I personally have no great expectations for the award, I'm incredibly excitement to meet and talk to Dean and Woodie as well as all the other finalists from around the United States.

Another blog post will be up tomorrow!

-Annalise

How FIRST has impacted my life!

When I first joined the Flying Platypi,  I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  My first impression of the team had me thinking that FRC was all about building a robot and making friends, but I quickly figured out that FIRST is much more than just that.  I joined in October (which is the off-season) so I was first led to believe that the time required was about 2 hours a week.  This is definitely not the case when it comes to FIRST Robotics.

 After about a month of meeting one night a week, the official FRC season started and I was along for the ride.  That Saturday I got my first taste of what being on a robotics team really meant.  The team spent the whole day coming up with ideas to solve that year's challenge.  I was amazed at the way some of my teammates solved problems.  Once the robot was designed, the real work started and we began to meet at Blue Ridge Tool, the machine shop where our team builds.  I had never been in a machine shop before so I didn’t know what to expect. When I walked through those doors and saw the mills and lathes and other machines I never knew existed, I was instantly hooked and had to learn more.  Although I spent most of my time with the programming group, I still got to use the machines and experience things that I had never done before.

 After 6 short weeks and many, many hours of building and programming, it was finally tournament time and all the work the team put into the robot was going to be put to the test.  When I walked into the arena at my first tournament I was shocked to see all the teams and people working hard to put the finishing touches on their robot to get it ready for competition.  The tournament was a blast and I met lots of new people and made a few friends. 

Now finishing up my third year of FIRST and looking back at what I have learned,  I see that being on a robotics team is about much more than just the robot: it’s about the skills you learn, the experiences you gain, and sharing that with others.  I have learned not only how to work with a team, but how to become a better leader, how to teach other students, and how to be a gracious professional.  FIRST has helped me decide what I want to major in as well as given me many opportunities to try new things I never would have thought possible before joining a FIRST team.  I have found my time on The Flying Platypi very rewarding and I plan to continue in FIRST for my senior year of high school. After I graduate I plan on coming back as a mentor to help sustain my favorite FIRST team. 

-Daniel

Summer Plans!

We may be done with build season and our competitions, but we aren't stopping here. This summer our team has a lot planned from training sessions for new and veteran members in anything that they want to learn more about, continuing our outreach events all over the state, helping start FLL teams and FTC teams, helping out our community and others through charity events, and most of all having fun in the company of friends. We have a lot planned and hope to get many students interested in STEM and FIRST. We can't wait to continue spreading FIRST and what it means to us across North Carolina.

Summer here we come!

How FIRST has impacted my life!

When I first joined the Flying Platypi I had no idea of what I was in for. In the first few weeks I was amazed by what we were expected to do. We had to raise money for the team, write an essay for the Chairman's award, create individual parts for the robot, and write code for the robot, among many other things. But after we finished the robot within the timeframe of build season and completed all the other marketing tasks we were finally ready to go to the regionals. The regionals we went to were fantastic experiences. It is amazing to see so many people in one place that have all been given the same tasks to solve and with the same interest in science and technology. It creates a sense of community between all the teams even though some may have not even encountered each other.
Last year we went to nationals. It was truly a sight to see FIRST almost take over St. Louis. At times like lunch, wherever you looked you could see FIRST teams walking around. Going to the competitions and just being part of FIRST is truly an original experience and I am glad that FIRST has shown me that there are so many people in my generation that are interested in science and technology.


--Evan