Today

have a passion for designing. The opportunity to explore my interest in designing to solve problems began in 7th grade. I signed up for an optional STEM class, which used lego NXTs to control motors and sensors. We created robots that navigate mazes, and in our free time built a planetary gearbox that hit 30 mph. It was my first experience building a solution to a problem as part of formalized education. A smaller version of my current engineering-minded self, designs to solve problems began to fill my waking and sleeping hours. However, these experiences were not as simple as building gearboxes, robots, and other mechanisms; they were the inception of the development and sharpening of a life long skill, centered around designing solutions to problems.

Entering my freshman year at North Broward Preparatory School (NBPS) with an $80,000 academic scholarship, established high expectations for me to make a difference in the NBPS community. Robotics and Engineering was a new course and new teacher; together, we founded the school’s first FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) team. Team 5410, Eaglebotics, was born, and I have been the Captain for two years. Our inaugural year was a valuable learning experience, with most of the founding members being underclassmen, I was balancing my outside FTC team (which was in its second year). Our rookie FRC robot - designed to stack crates 8 feet high and set a trashcan on top within 30 seconds, in both autonomous and driver mode - competed at the elimination rounds at the South Florida Regional; an honor only 24 teams receive. Our highest seed was 15th in our rookie year, winning the Rookie Highest Seed Award, our first award as a team.

As our FRC successes gained recognition, NBPS allowed us to expand the program. Our school already fielded FLL teams, however the jump from FLL to FRC was vast, moving from legos to 120 lb machined robots. The two FTC teams that were founded were led by myself and another founding member on FRC. Both 9987 and 8754 were now winning at competition, with 9987 on the winning alliance at the Western Wildcats Qualifier, and 8754 on the finalist alliance at a much more competitive level at FAU.

The FRC team grew exponentially, from 6 members our first year to 47 at the end of our third. With a large team as my responsibility, I was again challenged in a way conventional education never could. The bandwidth required to keep the team on track was too much for one person, so the Leadership Council was founded. While I set the strategy, I was able to delegate tasks like applying for awards, recruitment, and fundraising; which was tough to balance. I was very excited because this allowed me to focus on the design of the robot, and the image of our team in the community at our school. I loved it because I could apply my design thinking, innovation, and leadership skills in a real-world setting.