Meet the new FIRST Ladies Directors! (We're pumped)

Hello! We are excited to announce the new FIRST Ladies directors, Selina Woo and Anna Marie Mitchell!
First of all, thank you so much to Rachel Hunter and the Patronum Bot family for the existence and establishment of this wonderful organization!
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About Selina:
‘Sup! My name is Selina Woo, and I’m super excited to help out with FIRST Ladies this year! A little bit about myself- ever since Anna Marie dragged me into FLL in 7th grade, I’ve been an avid FIRST fan. Robotics changed my life and I will forever treasure the experiences, and the friendships that I’ve made. My favorite part about FIRST is how welcoming and awesome the community is. It’s absolutely incredible that teams who are competing will help and cheer each other on! On Visible Spectrum (our FTC team), I mainly work on the technical part, like building, programming, and CADing our robot, but I also love helping out with outreach whenever needed. Though it may seem like robotics is my life, I also try to make time for other things too (sleep not included), like being an officer in our school’s Key Club, HOSA chapter, and volunteering in NHS (National Honor Society). Some of my hobbies are traveling (that’s a story for another day), snuggling up with a good book, and playing my flute.

Thanks to FIRST Ladies, I’ve been able to meet so many cool people! During the 2015 World Championships, when my teammates and I went around pits, to sign people up for FIRST Ladies, I met so many memorable people---a few that I still keep in contact today. (Shoutout to my buddy in Philippines, Jessica, for tolerating my late night chats, rants, and fangirling over robots with me.) FIRST Ladies really inspired me, and gave me the opportunity to really come out of my shell, so I hope to help more people get the wonderful experience that I got!

About Anna Marie:
Hey-o! I’m Anna Marie Mitchell, and I’m more excited about growing FIRST Ladies than I have been about most things. Some more about me: I’ve been in and around FIRST since I was 8 years old. My experience in FIRST started out oddly; my sister joined a team and I became their team’s unofficial person-inside-the-mascot-costume. So my first few years of experience in FIRST was limited to dancing around in Fish in the Boat’s lime green piranha costume at FTC tournaments. (One of my greatest claims to fame is doing the Gangnam Style dance on the FTC performance area of the 2014 FIRST World Championships.) From then on, I was hooked. On Selina and my current FTC team Visible Spectrum, I work mainly on the Engineering Notebook, the website, and the team’s branding materials. Although my family’s life revolves around robotics, I occasionally do some other stuff too...sometimes. I am involved in marching band playing the French Horn, in National Honor Society, in French Club, I work as a barista, and I stress about AP Classes. Whenever I have free time, I like watching PBS with my family, spending time with my friends, and filling my time with outreach events.
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My favorite parts of FIRST have always been the relationships. My robot friends are the best friends I’ve ever had, and I’ve managed to get all of my non-robot friends onto robotics teams! I love how FIRST teaches teams the value of working together---when you help other teams become more competitive, it helps your team do the same. Robotics is special to me because, unlike in most sports, teams that compete in one match have to work together in the next. I’m excited to help direct FIRST Ladies because of the valuable bonds that FIRST Ladies is creating between women in STEM and girls like me on robotics teams. I’m looking forward to Selina's and my time as Directors, and to the opportunities we can extend to kids like us through FIRST Ladies.

​Their Shared Experience in FIRST:
Selina and Anna Marie have both been on FIRST teams since they were in 7th grade. Starting in 7th grade, they were a part of Lakeville, MN FLL team Caught in a Brainstorm. After their team members aged out of FLL in their freshman year of high school, Selina and Anna Marie joined FTC team Polar Vortex. In their sophomore year of high school, they jumped teams one last time and formed FTC team 11872 Visible Spectrum within their Lakeville North High School. Both of them, now juniors in high school, are going into their 5th year competing in FIRST. They have been involved with FIRST Ladies since its founding, when their FLL team helped to represent FIRST Ladies at the 2015 World Championships (see pic below). Selina and Anna Marie have been working together for most of their middle and high school lives. Starting in 7th grade when they founded and operated a small business as business partners, to programming together in FLL, to taking over direction of FIRST Ladies this year, Selina and Anna Marie have always wound up with each other and are better for it.