In 1999, Mr. Jason Morrella, advisor for Team #254 Cheesy-Poofs, and Mr. Tom Dyson from NASA Ames Research, together with two students from Broadway High School came to McKinley High School.  They shared and demonstrated their robot that won the Silicon Valley Regional Robotic Competition.  This was our first introduction into the exciting world of FIRST. 

This arrangement for the Cheesy-Poofs visit was made possible by the influence of Mr. Art Kimura.  Mr. Kimura was a former McKinley High School science teacher and a candidate for the first “Teacher in Space” program.  He founded and currently runs the Hawaii Future Flight program that encourages young students to pursue careers in science, space, and technology. 

To make a long story short, Mr. Kimura dined with Mr. Mark Leon, the NASA Ames Director of Education, at a neighbor island space related conference.  Mr. Leon shared with Mr. Kimura that NASA was introducing the FIRST program to Hawaii beginning with the sponsorship of one team, Team #359 representing Waialua High School.  Mr. Kimura then inquired if there was funding for an additional school.  With a little persuasion, Mr. Leon approved another grant for Hawaii's public school system.  Mr. Leon then flew members of Team #254, Cheesy-Poofs, to visit McKinley High School who recently competed in their fourth Electron Marathon.  At this point, McKinley had decided that this would be their final year participating in the electric vehicle competition.

Under the direction of electronics instructor, Milton Lau, McKinley successfully won three out of four state Electron Marathon competitions.  The Electron Marathon is an electric vehicle competition where students commit themselves to a problem solving activity.  Students build and race a car of their own design.  In addition to building this vehicle, students were required to provide written documentation, to give an oral presentation, and to participate in an hour long vehicle endurance race.

Upon retiring from the Electron Marathon Competition, McKinley donated their winning electric vehicle to Hawaiian Electric Company, the major sponsor of the Electron Marathon, with the intent that the vehicle be used as an engineering platform for neophyte schools.  The experience gained by the members of the McKinley team encouraged their interest in the field of engineering as many continued their post secondary education at MIT, Carnegie Mellon, and UCLA.

It was the end of era, but the beginning of a new challenge.  FIRST could not have had come at a better time for McKinley High School.  This new engineering project had unlimited potential.  McKinley accepted this challenge whole-heartedly.  This new challenge was met with the traditional McKinley determination and Tiger Pride. 

Our epic story is still being written...to be continued.

          My name is Shotaro (Ike) Nagamine I am the current captain of the McKinley Robotics Team.  As the only four-year member of McKinley Robotics Team, I have gained a unique perspective on how our team has grown and blossomed.  Our team is like the ohia lehua, a native plant in Hawaii.  Its beautiful and vibrant blossoms are associated locally with friends and families.  I see our team evolving in that way, to form a cohesive group of friends into a loving family.   

          McKinley Robotics had its humble beginnings six years ago after an inspiring visit by Tom Dyson from NASA Ames Research Center as well as Jason Morrella and two of his students from “Cheesy-Poofs” Team #254.  At that time, McKinley High School was successfully engaged in our local Electron Marathon.  In this annual event, schools created and competed in electrically powered vehicles in endurance races.  In four attempts, we came away with three first place wins.  Satisfied with our successes in our endeavor, we gladly accepted the challenge to join FIRST with the assistance of a two-year grant from NASA. 

          Growing up in such a tiny state, our community support has been second to none.  We have been blessed to have been spotlighted by our local media, both in television and print.  Strangers often come up to us at demonstrations and say, “Hey, aren’t you those kids who go to the mainland to compete? I saw you on TV.  Good luck this year!”  Our efforts help to bring our state a sense of pride by showing that our poor public school, which qualifies for Federal Title 1 funding, can compete with “bigger and better equipped schools from the mainland.” 

          To help defray the ever-increasing costs of a school in a location as remote as ours, we have had to depend heavily on our community support through our fundraising efforts.  In October, the aromas wafting from our huli-huli chicken fundraisers (chicken which is turned over an open flame) bring in community members by the hundreds.  From September to now and into March, our numerous carwashes draw long lines of patient customers who were more then happy to wait for a cause as worthy as ours.  They often ask us when our next carwash will take place so they can return again and again.  Fortunately, our weather is mild enough to hold our carwashes through the winter months.  In August, we sent out letters to numerous local organizations asking for donations. 

          We are always lucky to be able to depend on numerous small as well as an occasional sizeable monetary donation from these local organizations.  McKinley alumni, who wish us well in bringing prestige to our beloved school also supports us financially.  Former McKinley Robotics Team members have eagerly returned to assist us in ways small and large.  They encourage us to strive and surpass the successes that have come before us.  An increasing number of mentors have volunteered their precious time to help bring out the best in our team.  Our team has grown from an average of 10-13 members and four mentors into 24 members along with 11 mentors, all highly committed to helping us work to a common goal.  Finally, the parents of current as well as those of our former team members generously provide us with the occasional meal, as we toil away into the night on our project.  It is this sense of Ohana, or family, which has been fostered that I have come to cherish and will sorely miss as I graduate.   

          As we focus on the current task, we continue to aim at being role models in our school, our community, and other teams.  For example, at our Mini Math Competition, which is hosted by our school for our feeder schools, we demonstrate our robots from past competitions, hoping to inspire and recruit these young and curious minds so that they will become future members of our team. 

          We have also exhibited our robot throughout the community.  The life and accomplishments of locally raised astronaut Lacey Veach are celebrated each year in an event known as Lacey Veach Day.  We are proud to be part of this celebration of science and technology.  We have also gladly performed presentations for local organizations, some of which include the Lions Club and a luncheon with members of Harry Jeanette Weinberg Foundation.  Our local museum was gracious enough to ask us to demonstrate for their Family Sunday to hundreds of people.  I have also had the pleasure of being invited onto the Hawaii State Teachers Association’s weekly radio program to display our many accomplishments.  We have influenced a number of other teams into joining FIRST such as Waipahu # 636, Hawaii Preparatory Academy # 838 and Waiakea # 1056. 

          Our tenaciousness is something we hope inspires others.  A couple of years ago, we lost the use of our metal shop as our school’s priorities shifted, yet we were able to recover.  We converted an old dressing room in the back of a small auditorium into an advanced machine shop complete with a lathe and mill.  Again, with the support of our community, we were able to make necessary upgrades to the electrical system for this machine shop.  Our efforts seem to be paying off for our school as well.  Our first place banner, which we won with our alliance at the Pacific Northwest Regional in 2003, hangs prominently in our school gym for all to see.  In past years, we have been able to demonstrate to the entire school at assemblies the amazing capabilities of our robots.  Our school is also in the beginning stages of starting an Engineering Academy.  It will be starting next year and incorporating curriculum from Project Lead the Way, a national pre-engineering curriculum.   

          FIRST, has had a positive impact on all of our team members past and present.  The educational opportunities afforded to us have been invaluable and practically impossible to reproduce.  The stress of being fully immersed with completing a project on a tight timeline has taught us how to come together as a team to problem-solve efficiently and effectively. 

          With each obstacle that has been overcome, we have been able to approach every problem in a more akamai (smart, clever) way.  Being exposed to real and tangible projects has opened our eyes to what is actually out there in the real world awaiting us.  Many of our left-brained members have been able to simulate their right-brained abilities as well.  We have enjoyed releasing our creative juices through website creation, designing our logo and our school yearbook page, and making ribbon leis for FIRST and NASA officials.  Our athletic members have espoused the necessity of physical fitness and acted upon it.  Many of our members who have never worked out in their lives have gotten into a routine of becoming active on a regular basis.  Being members on this team has definitely influenced us in a positive way by opening our minds to all the possible career fields.  FIRST has been, without a doubt, an avenue to persuade each one of us to take up a post-secondary education, many in science and technology-related fields.  Our former members have gone on to places such as Honolulu Community College and the University of Hawaii on up to Lewis and Clark, Rochester Institute of Technology, and even CalTech. 

          I am not alone in my belief that FIRST and McKinley Robotics has totally affected my life over this four-year period.  We will all look back on these life-changing experiences as likely being some of the best years of our lives.  I hope to come back and help my successors as my predecessors have come to help us.  With the impact that FIRST has made in bringing our community, school, and team members together, FIRST truly exemplifies what we know here in Hawaii as the Aloha Spirit.