FIRST: Forming Friendships to Last a Lifetime

“Robotics is love. Robotics is life. Robotics is bae.” Is one of the things I used to describe robotics to our incoming new team members last month. Robotics has effected my life in so many different ways, but one of the biggest is the new friends I have. I have friends all over the U.S because of robotics. However possibly one of the greatest friendships I have is with a girl on team 876.

In 2011 teams 2512, 876, and 3747 were aligned together at the Lake Superior Regional. These teams worked together winning the regional and advancing to worlds. This was the first time team 2512 had gone to worlds. Since then, team 2512 and 876, have formed an unbreakable bond between their teams as a whole and even between individual team members.

During the summer my team (2512) attends a lot community outreach events, almost one every week. We were at this three day event called Sidewalk Days, where various venders sell things on a long strip of sidewalk, when a girl approached us, asked a few questions, and then told us who she was. Her name was Morgan from team 876. We talked for about an hour or so, and then she had to go. I thought it was so cool to meet a fellow FIRSTer outside of an official robotics event. I had no idea that such an amazing friendship could form from such a coincidental encounter.

About a week later I had found her instagram because of the fabulous omgrobots hashtag*. We ended up talking more, and that was the real start of our friendship.

We were reunited in August, at the offseason event my team hosted. They only had two girls on their team come, so they stayed the night at my house. We stayed up until 2 a.m  just talking to each other, it was like we were friends that had never been separated. The competition included us being on our team’s drive teams, sitting in the stands chilling together, dancing, and overall us having really good time together.

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The last offseason event in Minnesota was held November, 22 hosted by team 2169, and both my team and team 876 attended. So, Morgan and I got to see eachother again! We got there a little late in the morning, I was in our pits helping unpack when she came up behind me and started talking to me. I was so happy to see my friend who I hadn’t seen since August! We ended up spending the majority of the day together, goofing off, and having a good time human playing together.

It is truly amazing that we live in different states, but still have such good of friendship. Robotics has not only taught me how to build a robot but it has done so much more for me. Because of robotics I have met amazing people that I otherwise wouldn’t have known. One of the coolest things about FIRST is meeting fellow FIRSTers, not only learning about how other teams work, but also just making a new friend somewhere else. I’ve really expanded my horizons because of this, I’ve learned a lot more about teams, and I’ve found some of my best friends through FIRST.  

* #omgrobots is a great way to meet other FIRSTers, I’ve found some of my best friends using it. So, if you are looking to see other robot posts, or meet someone new I would suggest using it.

This blog was written by Claira from FRC 2512, The Duluth East Daredevils. If you are interested in writing a blog, sign up on the schedule.

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