Jeff Rice
For The New Era
For many people, finding a niche in life where they belong is a relentless struggle, for others, a rich and rewarding life full of fresh and new experiences.
As of late, I have given some serious thought as to my own particular situation. Back in early September, my brother, Robert and I were invited by Mr. Gary Cunningham, team adviser to become members of the West Albany High School FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology) Robotics Team.
During the course of this school year, Robert and I had numerous opportunities to create a network of new friends and mentor contacts from many local businesses and colleges.
I gained new insights about my interpretation of the world, about other people, and in turn, about my attitudes and perceptions of myself. While many may think the title of “geek” or “nerd” is an unacceptable thing to be, it quickly became apparent that there are thousands, even millions of young people just like me!
People like me, who think its OK to think a little differently than anyone else, and to walk to the beat of a different drummer, out of step with everyone else. It is this voyage of self-discovery and personal experiences that makes the FIRST program so valuable.
Robert & Jeff Rice: Journal Entry: January 3, 2003 : Hundreds of FIRST teams world-wide received identical kits of parts and a description of the competition objectives.
From this date, the teams have six nerve-wracking and harried weeks to design and ship a working robot. We attended a scrimmage with several other local teams in early February. The robot had to be freighted to Seattle by mid-February for the Pacific Northwest FIRST Regional. I can honestly say that it was an incredibly intense and frantic time involving hundreds of hours of hard work on the team’s part.
Journal Entry: April 2, 3, 2003: The Seattle Regionals were held on campus at the University of Washington on April 3-5, 2003. Our team members would be missing several days of school in order to attend the competition.
Our escapade to Seattle began on Wednesday, April 2 with a five hour car trip through sleet, hail, rain, and severe winds buffeting us along. My Mom and I were glad to finally arrive at the motel at 11:15 p.m. and get some rest. The team got an early wake-up call and we were headed for the University of Washington’s Bank of America Stadium where the 37 teams would be re-united with their shipping crates of tools, and of course, their ROBOT. We learned that there were 11 states represented with teams from distant parts of the country including Florida, Colorado, Hawaii, and Alaska.
Jeff Rice: Journal Entry: At 8 a.m. on Thursday, April 3, the stadium doors were opened and a mad scramble of people unpacking tools, computers, and the robots were begun. The stadium Pit Area (robot work area) was filled with people everywhere wearing the required safety glasses, and sounds of hammering, drilling, and machinery of all kinds operating all at once.
My mom wished desperately for ear plugs as the level of music escalated and rivaled even concert levels! We had a couple of hours of tinker-time to uncrate and last minute adjusting on the robot before the teams would attend an opening assembly.
After the opening, the teams would commence with some practice run matches. Each team had four practice matches and after each successive match, we had to make lightning quick adjustments to the robot and the programs running the robot.
Modifying the programming was my responsibility, since I had written the most of the code programs controlling the robot. For me to confidently write programming code on my own at the Regionals is a direct compliment to the professional mentor volunteers from HP (Melanie and Marvin Johnson).
Some important goals FIRST is to link trained mentors with students to create a professional working relationship that instills pride in their workmanship, a determination to figure the puzzle out, and an open mind to explore yet another way to approach a problem.
Journal Entry: On Friday, April 4, the competition matches began, which added yet another dimension of emotions to be dealing with. The offensive objective of the game was to move tote bins into your scoring area, and your score would be multiplied by the number of totes on each stacks. On the defensive edge, the idea was to knock the bins out of your opponents’ scoring area, and level the stacks.
Scoring became a complicated and confusing process for, so we placed most of the emphasis on just enjoyed the experience of watching the teams compete. Some of the matches ended with robot body parts missing, bent, or broken and we had to come up with a fix on the fly.
Some of the matches even resembled some frenzied activity typical of “Battle Bots” and “Robot Wars”. While our mentor provided us with support, the WAHS team prides itself in that the students themselves are largely totally responsible to fix it, mend it, or come up with another way to accomplish the objective.
Our team had advanced into the semi-finals which would re-convene on Saturday morning. Our team was interviewed by judges several times during the entire three days at the Regional.
Our matching team shirts, the famous Bulldog mascot handing out hugs and team buttons, and team cheerleaders dancing and waving bright banners earned our team the coveted “Team Spirit Award” at the conclusion of the matches on Friday afternoon.
An ecstatic WAHS team planned the next days’ strategy for the semi-finals and did some last minute adjustments on the robot and program changes. Our evenings took on a more “normal” teen-aged attitude in the form of seeking out nearby locations to feed the appetites of starving team members (because they didn’t remember to get something to eat during the day).
Journal Entry: Saturday, April 5 arrived with a typical Seattle gray day, complete with heavy drizzle. Most of us tired of waiting on a shuttle ride to the UW campus, walked the 1.5 miles to the stadium and began getting things in order for the finals competition. Our team was eliminated in the first go-round of the semi-finals, but we continued to enthusiastically support local teams including Corvallis, South Albany, and Santiam Christian Academy.
By 3:00 p.m. all matches were completed and the winning team (from Florida) was announced. Awards were distributed to teams for best design, best animation video, most innovative design, Rookie Team All Star Award, and the Xerox Creativity Award.
With mounting tension, the WAHS team is stunned by the announcement of the 2003 Chairman’s Award: “Team #957 from West Albany High School!”
To compete for the Chairman’s Award, the team members must keep accurate and detailed activity records and be interviewed extensively upon the history of the team, each member needs to be knowledgeable about the ways they have promoted the FIRST program and developed relationships in their community, and discuss how being involved on the team has changed or affected their lives. With WAHS only in its second year of competition, it was especially nice to savor our moment of glory as our team streamed down from the bleacher seats onto the stadium floor to receive high-fives from 36 other teams and watch each member presented with the FIRST signature medallion for the most coveted and prestigious award presented at Regional!
It was one of the most exciting, rewarding, stressful, and growing experiences of my entire life.
Journal Entry: On the way home: Saturday, April 5, 2003: The FIRST Robotics program is not only an expedient way to learn about cutting-edge shifts in technology, but also a unique and exciting way to think and learn about the world and yourself, too. And yes, it is a great day to be a nerd.