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5. VEX A rare opportunity

VEX - A Rare Opportunity The human mind is a very beautiful thing. It is so incredibly complex and nebulous, almost nothing can truly challenge its limits, and when something pushes the mind to the bounds, as difficult schoolwork can, it’s rarely enjoyable. However, VEX does just that in the most gratifying manner. I have been participating in VEX for four years now, and from the moment I walked into the first build meeting as a wide eyed, unreasonably ambitious, ignorant, and overeager freshmen standing a substantial five feet three inches tall, I was addicted. Vex has become an outlet for creativity, math, and both computer aided and unaided design. When I first started, working on my VEX robot was always on my mind – and I loved that it was. I stayed up late at night trying to improve the machine in any way I could. VEX robotics was different than anything I had ever experience before; four years later and five months from graduating, VEX robotics is still phenomenally important to me. I still love staying up late into the night to work on robots with my teammates, many of whom remind me of myself as a freshman. I know VEX has maintained its substantial role in my life because it’s dynamic. Every year I have gone to PPC, the world’s largest regional, and seen my old friends, and without fail I meet new people. At the end of the tournament this year, I felt certain nostalgia for that convention center. I would miss the opportunity to keep meeting such good people who would become friends for life. The sadness at the end of that tournament was intense because I knew I was beginning final chapter of my VEX career. I cannot imagine where I would be socially and academically without the program, it has truly been the opportunity of a lifetime.