Robotics is something you can’t simply summarize in one paragraph; it takes so much more. To truly understand what it means, you need to join the team. As I look back to the past I couldn't imagine myself joining robotics, but now I can’t imagine living without it. From my perspective, robotics was a stepping stone and door to finding myself as an individual. In the past, I never felt like I belonged anywhere or had a true purpose to life. Everyday was simply the same to me: attend school, be a good girl, do chores, eat, and sleep. Robotics changed all that. I still attend school, but during the season I go to school seven days a week instead of just staying at home slaving away with homework and being lazy. School became my second home where I am day and night. With each day there is always something to look forward to or something unique happening in robotics. Soon you find your love for it so great that you forget to eat and sleep properly. It presented new challenges, failures, disappointments, and everything in between. Despite all that, it taught me to be a stronger person mentally (to think critically) and physically (to gain muscle from laboring over the robots). It gave me a new perspective on life and myself. I slowly found myself being anxious and excited to be at robotics each day to see what I will learn and see. I love not only the family at robotics and the second home there, but I learned to love the creations. The creations are what you make of them. It is similar to life - there are failures and mistakes, but it's up to you how you fix it. As you can see, robotics is not just something that is heartless and solely mechanical. Robotics is a place where I have found myself and truly grew up in. Through tears and smiles I will never regret all the time I spent there, the family I gained, the home, the failures, and joining the best place in the world!!!

The reason I joined robotics was because I heard the many things they offer, including 3D animation. I was always artistic and I had an interest in art, so something new like 3D animation seemed interesting and challenging to me. When I actually joined robotics, it seemed that everybody looked smart and serious. Honestly, I was a little bit nervous. Then all of a sudden we started breaking apart these robots. I did not know what everyone was doing because I had no knowledge of robots. Then, the VEX season began and we started making these robots. I did not get it and thought, "How does everybody know what to do?" In some ways it started to become unsatisfying for me as I did not feel needed and I did not feel the thrill and challenge that I was hoping to get. Because I am also on the soccer team, I became concentrated on that and I did not think about robotics as much as soccer. But, when the FIRST season was about to start, I realized my original reason for joining -- to do 3D. So I decided to apply for a position even if it seemed a little hopeless. A few days later, I was on the animation team. I felt the thrill of being able to participate in something big. For the first time in robotics, I truly felt needed and that everyone needed me in order to accomplish this huge project. I also started to feel the passion and pride for robotics. Even though this was my first time doing 3D, I realized how exciting it was and how amazing it could be for something in your mind to be able to take shape realistically. I realized the potential of this 3D animation technology even though I am not that interested in computers. I guess since I joined robotics, I became more responsible and aware of the things around me. I am proud to be on the McKinley Robotics Team and this is what I truly wanted in joining robotics.

Robotics has positively impacted my life by giving me hands-on experiences in science and technology. It has given me opportunities to learn to work as a team and to gain leadership skills. FIRST has also shown me a pathway in the field of engineering. I am a first year member but robotics has indeed become a big part of my life.

The reason why I enlisted in the robotics team was because I presumed it would be both an interesting and a learning experience. Of course, I was right. Robotics has got to be one of the best set of memories I will ever remember of high school. I wanted to try something new that would both succor in enhancing my current abilities and also in developing new engineering-correlated abilities. Yes, engineering is my decision and goal. Robotics answered my call. Being part of this team gives me a sense of completeness and purpose in life. I enjoy working together with my fellow classmates in learning new concepts, terms, how to operate new tools, the mill and much more. Achieving success as a group gives such a surge of audacity. Robotics has certainly impacted my life.This is my first year in taking part, but already I cannot help myself from tweaking at robotics things from morning until past midnight. It feels so great to contribute to the team and watch as we rise above others in expectations and performance. I could honestly say that robotics is much more tiring and hardcore when I compare it to being on the football team. If I could, I would roll back time and join in my freshman year. I love how it gives us a sense of the real world. This is because robotics is really kind of like a real job where it is much more than taking notes, but also expects participation in hands-on activities and the ability to the work. It has certainly made me feel smarter about myself.

Robotics is the "FIRST" step to my engineering career.