Robotics Education & Competition Foundation
Inspiring students, one robot at a time.

Into the Jungle

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ellie.bodor
Entry ID #: 4149
Created: Wed, Jan 11, 2017 10:59 PM


Joining my first structured robotics program freshman year of high school with no prior experience in engineering set me considerably behind most of the somewhat experienced class in which I was placed. I was one of only four girls in the class, one of whom left the school before the end of the year and two of whom left robotics altogether the next. In beginning Foundations of Robotics, my aim was simple: to pursue my ambition of becoming a bio-mechanical engineer.   The course left something to be desired. The teacher didn't teach very well or often, leaving it to us students to learn from an instructional program. As the year progressed, I managed to get out of the most of the assignments and class programming challenges by being on the competitive VEX team, which functioned independently of the course and worked in the back of the classroom. The girl who later left Pine View for Florida Virtual was also on the team, and we soon became friends. I didn't learn much in class at all, although part of the reason, I have to admit, was my one other friend. She had given up entirely and just wanted to have fun. Since the material wasn't doing it for me, I allowed myself to be distracted. Why had I joined in the first place? I thought. Engineering is not for me, I don't know what I'm doing. It was a thought I never imagined I'd entertain. From a young age, I'd always loved science and math. They were continually my favorite subjects in school. So when Foundations of Robotics proved insufficient, I joined my friend who left the school on the local county-wide FIRST team, Jungle Robotics.   My first FIRST meeting was about halfway through build season. I had nothing to offer but my decent mechanical skills, so I did what I could as a freshman and helped assemble the drive train, trying to catch on to the team's operation and trying not to make a fool of myself in front of the junior and senior members. I returned for the next meeting, and joined the mechanical sub-team. I returned for the next, and the next, and so forth, until the end of the season, and the robot that I'd helped build was finally bagged and ready to compete.  The competition was in Orlando. The cars were packed, the hotel booked. The team embarked on a long car ride during which the older members talked and laughed easily while I again felt out of my depth, socially awkward and slightly intimidated. But I couldn't turn back now; I was missing school for this. The event passed in a blur of bright lights and robots and people, during which I repaired and reattached parts in the pit between matches or sat in the stands, watching the drive team as our robot crossed obstacles and shot goals and scored points for the alliance. I felt extraneous and of little worth, compared to the older members who always seemed to know what was going on. I vowed to make next year different---I would take accountability for potential failures and become a driver myself. Since most members were graduating that year and leaving the team, the position needed to be filled.   There were more events and demos that passed similarly. The school year ended and I sought to delve deeper into the world of machines, and so began volunteering at the Suncoast Science Center, where the majority of the robot was built. I learned a variety of machines and crafting techniques, and even began an internship program and planned a project combining technology and art.   Too soon, summer was over and my sophomore year began. I'd had enough of my school's robotics program, so I opted to begin again on a broader path with Project Lead the Way. The class was taught by my FIRST team's mentor, which was super, but it was also full of freshmen boys whom I couldn't stand. Two days in I switched out, deciding to give the robotics track another try in Design Essentials, but only because it was also taught by Jungle Robotics' mentor. Said team was meeting on Thursdays in his room, planning materials to buy and listing companies to contact in the name of fundraising. Before build season, though, was one more event with the last year's robot: Roboticon. It was time to prove my worth to this team. I drove the bot in every match, finally among the drive team. The robot did as well as it normally did, ranking in the middle range, but the team building and collaborative problem-solving brought us a long way.   It was persistence that paid off, in the end. I've learned and grown as a person from every experience I've had since the beginning. I have not faced the challenges that many young women have in male-dominated, STEM-related fields, though I don't expect this luck to continue. Jungle Robotics may have a relatively even gender distribution, but until regular school courses like Robotics 2: Design Essentials have a better ratio than two girls to twenty guys, society has a ways to go. To all the young women aspiring to enter a field of STEM---always keep fighting.   Ellie Bodor  Pine View School  FRC team 3627, VEX team 212D 

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