Sophomore year I joined my school’s FRC team, Deep Blue Robotics, with high hopes for my potential. I was trained in CAD and fabrication, but come build season I was highly disappointed in what little I actually contributed to the building of the robot. With over thirty members our team was clouded in bureaucracy, making it near impossible for young, aspiring members to voice their input. The top five people on our team put in ninety percent of the work involved, leaving a majority of the team to either build more game pieces or clean up the shop. I probably could have stuck with it and maybe by senior year worked myself up to some sort of leadership position, but instead I choose a path with far more risk and uncertainty: co-founding an FTC team. I have to give my friend Alan credit for coming up with the idea, but this team would not be possible without my previous robotics experience.

 

Being Vice-Captain, as one would imagine, I am far more involved in the affairs of my team. In everything from strategy to design, my input is highly valued and mostly listened to. When I encounter a problem, I don’t panic, and calmly think through possible solutions. Strangely enough it is this frequent trouble shooting and mechanical reasoning that I am most fond of in my role on this team. As a leader I have sometimes found it difficult to keep new members engaged and involved in team affairs. Coming from a team where members often did feel left out and unimportant, I have made it my goal to insure exactly the opposite for my team.