FIRST ® Tech Challenge Way More Than Building Robots

I worked with an amazing group of dedicated and enthusiastic high school students every day to build this years robot. And at the end of the build season it was so apparent to me the huge impact that our mentor team made on our high school participants. All of them had learned so much and had come so far, and you could see the impact that FIRST made not only on their academic plans, but in all aspects of their life. I love that I get the chance to inspire high school students through FIRST in the same way that it greatly changed and affected my life!

I was literally dragged into FIRST, and I do mean literally. In grade 10 my high school started a FIRST robotics team. I heard it on the announcements, thought it was cool, and then just left it. My sister was the one who wanted to check it out. She thought I was crazy that I hadn't given it much thought. The next meeting she heard about I was literally dragged from my lunch to the meeting. That has forever changed my life.