The Power Of Girls
Gkirkman
Entry ID #: 6330
Created: Tue, Jan 15, 2019 2:40 AM
The power of Girls by Victoria, Team 6007R Rolling Robots West Los Angeles Girls are essential and well needed in the STEM society of today. There are infinite possibilities when it comes to the power of girls. Hello, I'm Victoria, from team 6007R Quantum Flux. Our team is a diverse group formed of three unique people, that each play essential roles, and have different skills that are important to the functionality of our team. As the only girl in the group, I have some key roles. I am the lead drive coach and partner driver, builder, manager, and I also do lead notebook documentation. Then there is our team leader Alon; he is the lead driver, lead builder, lead designer, programmer, and the one that started our team. Last but not least, we have Linus, he is our lead programmer and scout. Each of us has tried and experimented with different roles, but now that we have found what we are best at and what we enjoy most, our roles are set, we perform each task at our best. We each learned various things through the course of role experimentation, and I’ll never forget how much fun I had learning about all the interesting aspects of STEM and robotics! About a year ago I found out about VEX Robotics I immediately got interested and decided to join a VRC team. I was first introduced into robotics by one of my mentors, Mrs. Bing. She came to my school for a STEM event, and I've been mesmerized by robotics since then. I then was introduced to Rolling Robots, an organization that partakes in the teaching of STEM, and hosts many VEX IQ teams as well as multiple VRC teams. Rolling Robots is an organization that is run and owned by Dr. George Kirkman, aka Dr. K. One could say Dr. K is my idol, he’s done so many amazing things, for example, he started his own business, Rolling Robots! He has both VRC and VEX IQ teams competing all over California, and none the less he’s an engineer! He inspires each and every one of us to do our best, work hard, and have fun, without him I’d probably never have gotten so interested in robotics. Not long after, I joined one of the VRC teams, team 6007. The team then was formed of two boys and myself, Aidan and Ethan. I worked with them for a few months, and learned very much about VEX and robotics, in that time I learned how to construct a competition robot and the basics of code. After three months of being part of team 6007, I went on summer vacation and was gone for around a month. During that time, the team separated, each of us going in a different direction. When I returned from vacation, I remained at Rolling Robots and spent some time working and volunteering there. I assisted with parties, coding classes, game nights, and mentored one of the VEX IQ teams. Then I left for a month once again and when I had returned a new VRC team formed, composed of Alon and myself. At that time it was just the two of us, but then out of the blue Linus joined us, thus forming a united and fully functional team. A builder, a driver, and a programmer, the perfect trio. Since then we have worked together and have competed at many events and competitions, we have built and programmed many robots, and have had many fun times. Our Current robot is a flywheel that we built for the turning point season, 2018-2019, which I built and drive with Alon. Over time we have created many friendships with different VRC teams from all around the world. Forming a diverse group of friends that have our back as we have theirs. When I hear the phrase "Girl Powered" I think of my role as a girl in STEM and my place on my team. This ever advancing world in the field of STEM needs girls; our future depends on the implication of girls. The impact that girls and women have made in our society countless numbers of times is amazing, and the achievements that humanity has made in STEM with the help of girls is out of this world.