...Founded four years ago in El Cajon California, our small team has flourished. We started with much encouragement in our rookie year; winning rookie all-star, rookie-inspiration, and web design excellence, as well as many others. Our second year was another prosperous one, as we became finalists in the Las Vegas Regional and returned home with new experiences and memories. Last year we were honored to participate in the first ever San Diego regional, and were proud supporters of Team San Diego. This year our team mutually decided to organize and improve from the inside out - and it has made a huge difference. The evidence of our determination to succeed can be found in the advanced design of this years robot. We decided to put some extra work in so that we could complete our tasks more quickly in years to come. We have built our own two speed transmission, driving chassis, and transferable electrical box. We are hoping that these things will allow us to focus on the design of our robot, and give us more room for creativity when considering what we would like to build each year. We have also continued to try our best with our web site, due mainly to our inspiring mentor, Cameron Dennis who teaches interested students HTML and CSS coding.
...Organization has also been an area of improvement within our team. We accomplished this by diving students into groups. Each group handles a certain aspect of the project. By default these groups must work together in order to achieve their goals. This interdependence shows students that not one aspect of this program is more important than the other and without support no team can truly succeed. Our team has achieved new levels in the area of communication, and we are proud to say that while one group of students may handle pneumatics they understand the significance of coding.
...Our team puts a big emphasis on making sure that every student learns something new each year. We have dedicated the first off-season semester to teaching the skills needed to use Stamp Kits and Vex Robots; enabling students to learn the basics of engineering before build season begins. All students attain hands-on experience and as a result are better equipped to build during the active season. More experienced students who still participate in the program pass down their knowledge to new students, creating a feeling of partnership between team members and allowing the team to create a friendship found no where else. Our team’s partnerships have grown tremendously over the last three years. Many of our teammates see each other on a daily basis - even after build season has ended. Furthermore, many of the students that were in the club three to four years ago have now become mentors for the team. They have inspired other students to come back and help the program, and made a huge impact on our small community. Our team spends hours together brainstorming in restaurants, classrooms, and in homes of team members; building a bond that lasts for years to come.
...Another thing our team can be very proud of is it’s mentors. Our mentors make sure that students attain the highest level of learning possible in everything we do. We teach incoming participants the basics by working on Stamp kits and Vex robots, and involve every member in every level of what we do. Our mentors value our students, and enjoy watching them grow and learn, and our students look up to our mentors, valuing the knowledge they teach and respecting them for teaching it.
...The FIRST motto is “Gracious Professionalism.” Our team takes this creed to heart with every aspect of what we do. We display our previous years robots to students who are not in robotics and explain the FIRST program to those who are interested. We try to get the word of FIRST out through school bulletins, newspapers, interviews, and word of mouth. We have come up with quite a few new and interesting ways to spread the message of FIRST. One of our mentors, the afore mentioned Cameron Dennis has tried to set up FIRST Lego League teams at the local elementary schools and First Tech Challenge teams in other local schools. We hope that these efforts will help to introduce the FIRST message to children at a younger age, enabling them to learn as much as possible. We are also a participating member of Team San Diego; an organization of local San Diegan teams who collaborate and willingly help each other whenever needed. Because of this organization, a new regional has been established; the San Diego Regional. Without the support and help of all those who participate in Team San Diego, this would not have happened - we are proud to say that we are a participating member of this extraordinary program. We also regularly bring our robot to Qualcomm events and invite people to the local regionals. Furthermore, we recently participated in an off-season competition for the Del Mar Fair exhibition which celebrated those who make America a better place, and helped to introduce the fun and exciting world of FIRST robotics.