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5. Rockway's One-girl All-boy Team

     Why are only 5 out of 25 students in my robotics class girls? Why is that 20% made up of only girls? Boys are not the only ones that like robotics whereas girls can be just as great as they can, probably even greater. But when I hear of the phrase “Girl Powered” it makes me think about all the incredible things these young women can do if they just put their minds to it. And this reflects in my team’s approach to robotics because I’m the only female in my team, yet they don’t treat me any worse than all other team members. My team is supportive of one another, and we work together to achieve our goal. Being Girl Powered means finding other girls who don’t generally think robotics is just building, getting them to try it, and showing them that robotics is not what they thought it would have been. But there are many girls out there who have yet to realize that they have a place in robotics and getting them to try it now helps them feel the confidence they need to keep doing robotics as they improve and excel in STEM. My team has multiple positions to take part in. Every week we switch our roles, as we improve our robot mechanisms and structure. For example (True facts): Last week I was in charge of the notebook meaning I had to write our design brief for that specific day, our inventory as well, etc. But this week I oversee making improvements to our prototype by redrawing and making additions to it on paper. And so on. I have learned a lot through this because this it is important to us to learn how to do everything that a team requires including the driving. This is also the way we improve our skills to do these quicker and easier than the role before it. Different opinions or ideas create new ways to design a prototype. You would have to test the concept in order to see if it is useful or not. If the idea works, then we use it and continue to develop it. If the idea does not work, then we go back to the design used before the idea was inputted. The diversity of perspective changes our robot design, but it also helps our team chemistry. Team chemistry meaning how we come together to work as a group. Sharing our ideas lets all the team members know what your opinion about a problem or advancement is. And when all ideas are shared we can unite and create an idea that will fit all of your group comrade’s previous suggestions. All of this helps the teams gain advantages in our ability to succeed in further matches or rounds My STEM role model is Andrea Suarez because she built a robot that competed in a show called Battlebots where robots fight each other until one is knocked out. The robot was named The Witch Doctor, but it had a small companion called Shaman that had flamethrowers on it! She shows incredible building and leadership skill allowing her team to work with ease most of the time when competing.