If there’s one thing 6th-grade-me hated most, it was robotics. The idea of shaping sharp metal parts and working alongside a group of mostly sweaty guys was enough to make me run in the other direction. In fact, when my mom tried to enroll me into the famous VEX Robotics Club in middle school, I threw a huge tantrum and went to the school counselor to complain. Let’s just say, my parents were not happy, but I was thrilled to avoid it.
It wasn’t until a year later that my parents convinced me to try robotics again, and I reluctantly agreed to join the new FTC program at Redwood Middle School — but only because two of my friends were doing it, too.
I was immediately met with slideshows and lectures of parents talking about different wheels and metal parts, none of which interested me.
So I switched over to software, following coding tutorials, typing one line at a time but never successfully. Coding was just not my thing. I later attempted to work in both hardware and software components of the robot, but eventually focused on hardware.
While I muddled along, true success didn’t occur until my freshman year, when I entered Saratoga High’s FTC program and joined team 7641 MSET Bettafish.
I still remember the moment everything clicked for me, because it seems so stupid now. But to me, it was the biggest thing I had accomplished “technically” — the thing that made me feel like I could be good at robotics. I was sitting in the robotics room, hunched over my computer, attempting to use computer-aided design (CAD) with my best friend next to me, and the room was bustling with noise. But at that moment, I was so immersed in doing only one thing. Stupidly, that one thing was … changing the color of a part. A part someone else had made. When I figured out how to change the color from black to white, you would l not believe the ridiculous smile on my face.
Fast forward three years from my initial year in robotics to the present, and it isn’t just the robot parts I started to like more. Aside from design, I found myself growing immensely in public speaking from the multiple presentations. I grew more confident with the words I was saying, but I also became more careful with the way I would write my presentations outside of robotics, often incorporating a more emotional background to entice the audience I was speaking to.
Furthermore, I was starting to gain more of a love for the team dynamics and the people on the team. In my first year on the veteran team Cuttlefish, I made some of my ride-or-die best friends. And through long conversations with these people, I started to learn more about the qualities humans have in leadership and teamwork. Those frustrating moments — whether I was upset with someone or they were upset with me — taught me more about teamwork than any silly little group project ever could.
Even though I initially hated the idea of robotics, I honestly couldn’t imagine my life without not just the robot but also the immense support I get from my teammates and mentors.
So, if 6th-grade-me could somehow time travel and read this: Yes, I still don’t like sweaty guys, but somehow the place you hated the most turned out to be the place where you belong the most.
