Hello my name is Juan Gutierrez, vice-president of FIRST Robotics 2017, and throughout this experience I developed a new understanding about what definition of teamwork. This season I had to work with roughly 30 other students and advisors in order to complete the task of creating a robot. Teamwork, in my eyes, meant dividing the work and then bringing it all together in the end. In robotics, working with one another continuously proved to be more to be more effective since we got to exchange ideas that would only have occurred through communication of every single team member. The most important idea to keep in mind while the season is active would be that communication is the only way the robot will be completed in time for the competition.
Christopher Guzman:
Joining robotics had to be the best decision that I have ever made. It was such an amazing experience and I learned many things. I was interested in the major of computer science and being able to program a robot helped me a lot. It helped me fall in love with the subject even more. Besides that, I learned to become the programmer that I am today. I appreciate the opportunity that was given to me and take none of it for granted. I know for sure that I will continue to do this next year.
Alfraib Ibarra:
Being a part of the first ever robotics team in Calexico was an amazing and enriching experience in the field of engineering. Being an engineering major going into university this coming semester makes me really appreciative of this opportunity given to us to create and put all of our ideas into an actual robot. Coming from Calexico, being a part of an experience like this seems limited to only those in more represented areas. What I learned through this experience was that it takes a lot of collaboration and teamwork to put a project of this magnitude together and it really put into perspective the intensity of the engineering career that is ahead of me.
Angel Lepe: Robotics has been more than a team for me. In Robotics I have not only learned about things we need to build a robot, but I have also learned how to work in a team. Communication among all members is crucial for the development of this project. Each member of this team contributes in any way possible. This makes Robotics have a peaceful and educational environment. Robotics has not only been an extracurricular activity but has been a place where I want to be. I learned many things in Robotics concerning the mechanical side of this glorious project. This is why I am anxious of joining this year again. This year I will be more educated and I will be able to contribute more to this group. There were times in which we would try to think out why certain things were not working. But now that I think about it, these things have contributed to my knowledge and understanding of why being persistent and hardworking is extremely important. This is why I am convinced that Robotics is the best decision I have made.
Gaston Ramirez: As the pioneers of Calexico High School first robotics team, my team and i learned a great deal of lessons. As a Senior the only thing I regret from this club is not being able to join next year. Here I learned what true teamwork looks like, what coming together to solve a problem really is like. All the lessons i learned here I will take with me when i go off to university. From learning how to set up a plan and carry it out to working with deadlines to meet, and even solving problems on the spot with creativity (and lots of duct tape). This club showed me what we could achieve despite being rookies. As a STEM major I will thoroughly miss first robotics and the opportunities to meet new people and new sights it brought with it.
Miguel Lopez: When i joined robotics i thought that we would fight robots to the death but then i realise more than that. We collaborated as a team and work really hard throughout build season. We had to stay really late and work for long hours. Kinda like a job without getting payed. Guess those waffles at san diego payed off. Overall everything was fun and cool to learn. I still remember that dog that had 3 legs.
Diego Ramos: What I learned in FIRST Robotics is that working in a big project like this is a difficult task. Our rookie year was tough since we jumped feet first into something we were not even sure how to do; we did not have all the materials needed, we did not have a concrete plan, and we did not know how to manage the team properly. Still, this experience has given me an insight on how to work with limited resources in a limited workspace and in a limited time frame. I made a lot of friends who each brought their own ideas into this build, and, as a team, we figured out what was best to make the robot. I also learned more about mechanics, wiring, and programming, and these skills are useful to learn since I am going to be studying to become an engineer. Things could have gone better, but the challenges of this experience are what made it fun and exciting. It is too bad that this was my first and last year, but I only wish the underclassmen the best of luck and to keep working hard.
Marilyn: Steamworks 2017 was our first FIRST Robotics competition experience and it was AMAZING. We definitely have a lot to work to do but I am proud of our team for completing tasks that this year’s competition required like climbing the rope and delivering gears. I learned that even if read all the rules you can still get a yellow card if you don’t focus during the competition. In a team there must be not only one person to read all the rules, but two persons to better comprehend them. Also, sometimes some people do not fully commit but you can still give all your time and dedication to a club you enjoy and learn from like robotics. Most importantly, our community the hispanic/latino community is getting the opportunity to participate in STEM related clubs allowing us to pursue a career in those fields.
Bryan Guerra: This year I learned how to work with a team to build a robot. I learned how to program the robot so that it can move and stuff. I also learned how to build the robot out of nothing and to work well with others. Joining First Robotics was a good choice because I got to go places and I got to live really good experiences. It was a really great year for me. For the upcoming year I’m gonna try to come more to the meetings and to read the Edmodo messages, I will also try to contribute more to the team by doing more stuff.
Arleth Chavez FRESHMAN: At the beginning it was scary since I knew almost nobody, I used to be very shy and timid. As time went by I got involved with my team and I grew very fond of them. Even though we would argue we are still a team we went through so many struggles, long days working and our hard work paid off in the competition. Even as the robot was struggling to survive at the competition we didn’t lose hope we kept on working on the robot. We didn’t win but I didn’t need a win because we did our best and that’s what matters.
Stephanie Heim
In the FCR 2017 Robotics season I personally had learned a lot more then I had expected in 6 weeks. The group as whole has learned almost exactly what it is to work as a team and the basics to make a robot which benefits lots of us who actually plan to go into engineering. Being part of the first year robotics club benefited me to know my strengths and weaknesses in the subject such as collaborative skills to flubs in design as a future engineer. The experience in this club in my opinion is like no other and I genuinely wish this club could have been created before my Junior year. To have more chances to go out to showcase and participate in more competitions, but i'm glad it was created and hope it can continue giving great experiences to next despite the hellish start as a blind rookie team.
Hello my name is Xavier Andrade and throughout my experience at FIRST Robotics I learned many different things. Once Mr. Garcia mentioned FIRST Robotics my heart felt excited and I immediately joined. Robotics Club motivated me to pursue a degree in a STEM area which now has become Mechanical Engineering. Robotics helped me not to underestimate others. It taught me to be dedicated toward a goal I had to finish.
Brandon Briseno: This was Calexico High School’s first year in the annual FIRST Robotics Competition. I was part of the pit crew and learned how to build a robot as a team. I met new people that helped me have a better understanding on the topic. This program is something I’m really into since it is connected to the major I want to graduate from when I go to college. Furthermore, this is an important factor I will keep on putting time to since it is something I’m really interested in. I also learned that we need to have organization in order to succeed in the competitions. We should have first made the decision of reading the rules and then built the robot. All in all, this experience in FIRST Robotics is something I want to live again in my senior year.
Tristen Wheeler:
FIRST Robotics has proven to be quite a blast. With it came new experiences and consequently I learned new lesson as well. Such an activity proved to be an enrichment of sorts that was littered with the endeavors that came with building the robot. By building this machine you are given another understanding of technology besides the one the equipment you use daily. One becomes more extensive with the comprehension of the integrated and moving parts of the machinery. This information can be useful for anyone who will pursue a career in computer sciences and engineering. The experiences of building the robot were very interactive and advantageous for many situations, which can including just fixing ordinary items around your household. This makes for a great pass-time and as an extracurricular activity.
Diego Ramos: What I learned in FIRST Robotics is that working in a big project like this is a difficult task. Our rookie year was tough since we jumped feet first into something we were not even sure how to do; we did not have all the materials needed, we did not have a concrete plan, and we did not know how to manage the team properly. Still, this experience has given me an insight on how to work with limited resources in a limited workspace and in a limited time frame. I made a lot of friends who each brought their own ideas into this build, and, as a team, we figured out what was best to make the robot. I also learned more about mechanics, wiring, and programming, and these skills are useful to learn since I am going to be studying to become an engineer. Things could have gone better, but the challenges of this experience are what made it fun and exciting. It is too bad that this was my first and last year, but I only wish the underclassmen the best of luck and to keep working hard.
Mia Conde:
Being a rookie team in Calexico High School was our biggest challenge. Yes, as a group there were faults and difficulties, but as a whole our team was a family. It was really nice getting to know new students of every class and even my own class through building our robot. Being in First Robotics was extremely influential because it put me in situations that I will hopefully go through when I continue in my own career as an engineer and inspired me to continue pursuing my future career. I hope for the future generations that they are able to find supportive administration and are on task with everything that needs to be completed. I hope that they become more organized as a team and overall hope they find more recruits to be apart of our little family. <3
Joseph Felix: (CODE GOD)
As a rookie team, the first two weeks were a nightmare, with people coming and going, plans being rewritten every five minutes, and no one knowing what we were supposed to be doing. I had a great experience, for the first time in my life I was able to apply things I had learned from school into something real, things that I thought that I would never actually use outside a classroom setting actually benefited me and the team as a whole. Talking about teams, I believe the greatest thing that benefited me is learning to work as a team, throughout this building season and the competition, we built as a team, planned as a team and lost as a team. Even though we lost, we still didn’t fail, the Unimatics learned a lot from the time spent in this club, and those who became veterans for next year will be able to provide mentoring for our newer recruits, a thing that would have helped us a lot. At the end the robot was done, it did what it was supposed to and it did it better than many other experienced teams. As for me, I had a great insight into what a programmer does and how hard things could get from time to time, I developed a lot of patience for problem solving and I loved it. My experience cannot be described as less than incredible.
Jose Zamano:
Joining the First Robotics Club was an experience that helped me learn a lot of things. Since the first day of the club to the last day of the competition I learned a lot of valuable lessons that will help me in the future in my career in engineering. Since day one I learned that teamwork was going to be essential for our success in the competition. If I could give one piece of advice to future members in the robotics club it would be to organize the work and their time. I believe that if we were organized in what we each were going to do we may have performed better in the competition. One of our mistakes this year was that we never worked with trial and error. I believe that if we would have created prototypes and tested them over and over we might have had a better final product. Joining the First Robotics Club was one of the best decisions I have take because I know it will help me a lot in the future.
Lilia Guerra (Grandma)
One of the main lessons learned throughout the season was working in a team. Everyone contributes to the robot. It’s impossible constructing a robot in 6 weeks or less without the help of others. Though it may become stressing building it, it is very rewarding to see the robot function once it’s finished. The best part of First Robotics was competing against other teams from differents schools, states, and even countries! It is an enriching experience for you may travel to different places in the world (if the club has the money), meet new people, and watch robots team up to compete. That aside, joining the program gave me a head start in the world of engineering. I learned to use tools and machinery, which come to great advantage for anyone interested in engineering. For sure I give it a 10/10, would try again.
Erick Montoya
As a rookie team in first robotics, it was a fun and stressful experience. Our team had a lack of supplies which made us limited to build certain structures. I enjoyed working with the saw to cut the aluminum and measuring the pieces to get exact measurements. I learned to work with tools that I had never worked with before. The weeks we had to build the robot were stressful because our team did not have a plan on what to build and they would create a design that they would change all the time. Our team needed to sit down and discuss possible things to make in order to save time and get more work done on the robot. At the competition I learned to work with other students from other schools. As a rookie team, we needed to work more as a team instead of small groups. I learned that you have to work with what you have.
Jose Acosta
Being part of the robotics team was a great experience. I was able to work with students from other cities and countries, I was able to see the way they think, the way they build their robot, and the way they approach the competition. I really enjoy being around my team and all the other teams, this allowed me to make new friends that enjoy talking about robotics and enjoy building robots. Furthermore, I learned to work in a group, in a small time frame, and with a lack of materials and tools. This team helped me to communicate with people I usually didn’t communicate with before.
Luis, the President, Fletes: As a member of Calexico’s first FIRST Robotics team I learned the the importance of being a leader but also a team member. Throughout the whole build season I learned how to work with others. I am very honoured to have been the president of such an amazing group. Although many of my peers thought I could have been a better leader. But this shows the dedication and hardwork of this team. It shows that they did not need a proper leader to take on such a difficult task. We were able to build this robot with many obstacles but we overcame them as a team. This group is the true definition of teamwork. It was a blessing to work with all these amazing and creative people. I'm going to miss this team but I know next year it will be the same and I can’t wait till next year.