 Hi, readers of FIRST Ladies! My name is Dinah, and I have been doing robotics for almost four years. I am currently a member of the Marlbots 3526, a team of girls and other gender minorities based in Los Angeles, and this is my blog about the incredible Hedy Lamarr.
I love all things STEM-related, don’t get me wrong, but perhaps more importantly, I love old movies; if you’re feeling fancy, you can call me a “cinephile,” but most of my friends prefer the term “film-bro”. Whatever I am, when I heard the story of Hedy Lamarr, two of my great loves fused, and I thought I would share her incredible story with you. Hedy Lamarr, born in 1913, was an Austrian-born Hollywood star during the early 20th century. After gaining fame in Europe by starring in films such as Geld auf der Strasse and Ecstasy, Lamarr escaped her overly possessive husband and came to the United States in 1937. In 1938, she appeared in Algiers, a classic romantic drama. From 1938 to 1945, Lamarr was under contract with the studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayor and made a plethora of movies, some showcased her talent while most showcased her incredible beauty. In 1948, after unsuccessfully attempting to create her production company, Lamarr starred in Cecil B. Demille’s Samson & Delilah, returning to her classic femme-fatale aura. Lamarr eventually retired from acting in 1958. She did have a few public court appearances after being arrested and later cleared of shoplifting charges. She also sued the co-writers of her autobiography Ecstasy and Me for misrepresentation and sued the director Mel Brooks for including a character named Hedley Lamarr in his movie Blazing Saddles (1974). Although married a total of six times, Lamarr died alone in 2000. However, Lamarr was much more than a beautiful face with stunning dark hair on the shining silver screen. Although she invented several things that were never used, Lamarr wanted to create a device to help the Allies fight the Nazis during WWII, because of her Jewish relatives. Thus, Lamarr partnered with the composer George Antheil to find a method to steer torpedoes. During the war, torpedoes often missed their targets because German forces would jam the radio signals that steered the torpedoes. Lamarr and Antheil created a device that was similar to a piano: it included 88 different radio frequencies that the torpedo could randomly jump to prevent the Nazis from intercepting them. This method of radio-hopping called the "Secret Communications System” prevented Nazis from decoding Allied messages throughout the war. This later became an important part of developing the technology of cellular phones and military communications to ensure their security. Hedy Lamarr, although her scientific work often went unnoticed, was both an integral part of Hollywood and an integral part of modern technology. She is a key example of the layered role that STEM can play in our lives and demonstrates the enormous possibilities and potential of life in STEM. Just like Hedy, I can pursue my love for science and my love for movies at the same time. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hedy-Lamarr “Hedy Lamarr | Biography, Movies, & Facts | Britannica.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 2023, www.britannica.com/biography/Hedy-Lamarr. Accessed 11 Dec. 2023. https://www.newscientist.com/people/hedy-lamarr/ Aron, Jacob. “Hedy Lamarr.” New Scientist, 2021, www.newscientist.com/people/hedy-lamarr/. Accessed 11 Dec. 2023.
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Hey FIRST Ladies community! My name is Emma, and I am a member of FRC Team 2656, Quasics. Our team is about 50% female and so is our Leadership Team. We are out of Gateway High School in Monroeville, PA. Quasics has been around since the 2008 season, and we currently have one FRC and two FLL teams. Today I want to talk about our Girl Scouts program. We are program partners with Girl Scouts of Western PA, and we have been able to award 770 STEM badges and counting through this! During the year, we travel to troops near and far to run free workshops. Once a year in December, we run an in-house Badge Bash that brings in girls from several troops. Our kids often lead these events as young as Freshman. This is not only great for the girls, but it is a wonderful leadership opportunity for our students. The parents and troop leaders often compliment our students’ professionalism at these events, and the girls love having kids a bit older than them to look up to, especially our girls. So, how do we run these workshops? We write scripts and slideshows for these badges after looking over the requirements. It is super important that the girls meet all of the criteria to earn their badges. Sometimes this means completing handouts to plan out a game, learning about buoyancy by making a paddle boat, or discovering the effects energy has on motion with a balloon car. Whatever the workshop is about, we want to make sure the scouts have fun and learn about STEM. This part is extremely valuable, because this may be the first/last time the girls are introduced to STEM, and we want them to realize that science, technology, engineering, and math may be seemingly boring on their own but can come together into something extraordinary. The Girl Scouts setting is also a perfect place to show them that everyone has a place in STEM. Finally, how do we know this works? I mean, how can we really measure the impact that this is leaving. Well, I happen to be a former Girl Scout, and this girl’s first meeting with Quasics was in the recreational area of my school. That’s right, inspired girl to inspiring girls. In all seriousness, Girl Scouts is definitely my favorite kind of outreach, and I’m honored to be a part of these girls’ futures. Peace, love, and robots, FRC Team 2656 Quasics  By the Marlbots 3526, a high school team of girls and other gender minorities based in Los Angeles, CA.
Contrary to the experience of many people in this world, Dr. Lee Mirsky did not grow up in a household dominated by specific gender roles. She is a sister to a younger brother, LGBTQ+ twins, and is married to a transgender man; her father worked from home, while her mother went to work at a hospital. When going to a McDonald’s drive through with her mother as a child, her family was asked if they would like a “boy toy” or “girl toy” with their happy meals. Instead of subscribing to such a binary and gender-specific tradition, her mother would play dumb, saying things like “I don't know what ‘girl toy’ or ‘boy toy’ is.” Dr. Mirsky was aware, of course, that other ways of living existed, but such occurrences were the norm in her family. Dr. Mirsky fell in love with science in an 11th grade physics class, encouraged from the help of a remarkable teacher at her school. From there, she went on to major in Physics and Environmental Analysis & Policy in college, but discovered her love of Materials Science (a combination of physics, chemistry and engineering) while at college. She decided to earn her PhD in Materials Science, and began to tutor physics throughout her graduate years, realizing her love of teaching physics. In 2016, during her last year in her PhD program, Dr. Mirsky joined the Marlborough School faculty part time to teach Physics, and in 2017, after receiving her PhD, she joined the faculty full time. At Marlborough, the high school robotics program was beginning to expand in such a way that the illustrious Mr. Witman required extra help, leading him to turn to Dr. Mirsky. At first, Dr. Mirsky was hesitant to join the program, but after going to a Robotics meet, she realized how much fun the Robotics world is. By 2018, Dr. Mirsky was Mr. Witman’s second hand; she was assisting after school, and also helped to teach the middle school Robotics classes, on top of teaching Physics. Although STEM is known as a fairly male-dominated field, Dr. Mirsky feels “very lucky” in that she’s been fortunate enough to have had positive experiences throughout her STEM career. Of course, like so many, she has dealt with inflated male egos: she once overheard a male peer discussing his “discovery”, which he had “discovered” in a research article that he simply modified. Nonetheless, Dr. Mirsky has never faced the typical disrespect so many women have faced in the STEM world at the hands of overzealous men. Dr. Mirsky attributes her positive experiences to great teachers, some luck, other areas of privilege that she has, but also her upbringing. Dr. Mirsky was never taught to actively see gender, and even in the face of obnoxious males during her school years, she never felt held back by her male peers. So, when asked about the difference between the number of male coaches and female coaches at Robotics meets, Dr. Mirsky said she never really noticed it until she began to think about it. It’s an interesting phenomenon - seeing gender is so ingrained in our society, but when a person is not taught to actively see gender roles, and constantly spend time and energy thinking about gender, their experience differs from the rest. Dr. Mirsky was never taught to see herself as overwhelmingly “female” in a STEM world dominated by “males,” and thus never felt the same effect of discrimination others are prone to. Dr. Mirsky is currently the “Engineering and Entrepreneurship Program Head” and “Associate Director of the Frank and Eileen Accelerator Program” and teaches AP Physics and Engineering and Invention for Impact at Marlborough School. With the increase of Dr. Mirsky’s responsibilities, she is no longer able to assist with Robotics, but greatly treasures her time with the teams. Hi FIRST Ladies community! Team Vertigo 18523 is proud to have partnered with FIRST Ladies for the 2023-2024 FTC robotics season. Relatively recently, two of Vertigo’s members worked on one of these blog posts, and we feel that we should give a background about us and our team
Vertigo is a Highland Park, Illinois community team founded in 2018. Currently, our team is 25% female. Our mission has been to spread our love for STEM and other robotics-related concepts to as many people as we can reach. We inspire the leaders of tomorrow by actively participating and volunteering in events. One example of this is that we have been volunteering at Boys and Girls Club (an after school program for underrepresented kids in a nearby community) for the past two years demonstrating that STEM can be interesting, cool, and fun for everyone. Ultimately, we believe that robotics is not just about building robots; it's about fostering a love for learning, collaboration, and innovation. Through our involvement in FIRST Ladies, we aim to continue inspiring and empowering young minds, particularly girls, to explore the wonders of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. One of the most rewarding aspects of being part of the FIRST Ladies community is the opportunity to collaborate and share experiences with like-minded individuals who are passionate about robotics and STEM. We believe that by working together, we can create a more inclusive and supportive environment for everyone involved. Thank you for reading and for all those who have been making FIRST Ladies an incredible, positive community. Here's to a successful and fun rest of the robotics season! If you would like to follow our robotics journey, feel free to follow us on Instagram @vertigorobotics. Since 2018, we—FRC Team 1678, Citrus Circuits from Davis, California—have been hosting WiSE, or Women in STEM Empowerment events (more info can be found in the February 2023 newsletter and our website). Normally, these monthly events include stations of STEM experiments guided by female 1678 volunteers meant to engage girls 3rd through 8th grade and inspire them to take interest in STEM. However, to enliven our October event, we decided to make the activities Halloween themed. Additionally, unlike our typical WiSE event, which is done in the library, we decided the location this time to be the space outside our robotics classroom so that we were able to demonstrate our robot and show it in action to participants.
On the day of the event, our volunteers guided students through activities such as making structures of DNA using Q-tips and pipe cleaners. Our Halloween themed activities included making tissue paper ghosts fly through magnetism and building the tallest and most stable ghost tower using toothpicks and styrofoam balls. However, the most popular activity was making a screaming ghost balloon. Students, and even some curious parents, put a hex nut in a balloon and swirled it so that the friction between the hex nut and the balloon would create a “screaming” sound. We reached over 40 participants who came to not only enjoy these engaging activities, but also to watch our 2022 competition robot in action. Students had the opportunity to interact with it, feeding it cargo (oversized red and blue tennis balls) and catching the cargo it shoots. Our volunteers also answered questions regarding how the robot was built and what the game the robot played was, as well as general questions about our team. As the number of girls participating in our events increase every month, we hope that more young girls are inspired to take interest in STEM through WiSE and that our volunteers stand to be role models for them to join the vibrant FIRST community.
 Founded in 2008, 2826 Wave Robotics is a community team built for all. With 25% of students identified as female in the 2022-23 season, we hoped to increase this. To promote female engagement on our team, Wave has focused on female recruitment during the 2023 offseason. In the summer, our team designed a set of goals for the upcoming season. With an emphasis on rookie engagement and furthering student skill-sets, we focused on recruitment while ensuring all students were trained and ready for the 2024 Crescendo game. We began this journey by designing an offseason robot. Inspired by FRC team 1923 the MidKnight Inventors, we built a cube shooting robot. From concept to reality in less than two months, all team members were involved in this process. The programming team for this project consisted of 100% female students. Through this process, these students learned presets and autonomous coding, aiding a successful two cube auto.  In correspondence with this project, we designed extensive recruitment events throughout our community. As a community team reaching students across a 180+ square mile radius, it was crucial to a widespread plan, reaching students to our fullest abilities. By attending numerous markets, open houses, and camps, we were able to double the size of our team, with our team’s female percentage increasing by nearly 15% from the previous season. With new interest, our team knew we needed to engage these students through exciting events. We decided to attend the TWIST (Together Women in STEM Thrive) Offseason event hosted by FRC team 6421 WarriorBots. To prepare for this event, we created a one-on-one working environment. Our girls learned the essential pit skills and received a combined 30+ hours in drive-team practice and training.  On October 14th, we traveled to Muskego, Wisconsin to compete with 17 other teams. Beginning the day, we missed the practice matches as we were busy working to ensure our robot was ready for the day. We began our first match with a rocky start due to the RoboRio having connection issues with the FMS, leaving us unable to move. After working with the FTA we were diligently able to get this issue resolved. Throughout the day we were a competitive bot with a rotating drive team that proved to be successful. Going into the last quals match of the day, we unfortunately collided with the wall, resulting in our arm snapping in half. With this being the only mechanism on the robot, it was essential to fix this before playoffs. We worked diligently throughout lunch to put on a new fully functioning arm. Going into alliance selection, we were confident in our position as we were ranked 8th overall. We were the first pick of alliance 5 leaded by FRC team 6381 Red Raider Robotics and our partner FRC team 1732 #2 Hilltoppers. Moving into playoffs, we were confident of our abilities and tried our best. Unfortunately our alliance lost the first 2 matches. But the skills learned throughout the day proved to be more valuable. The judges awarded us the TWISTED Metals Award for our quick working robot repairs. Our girls learned the valuable skills of FIRST that will translate well for a successful season. We look forward to our next FIRST Ladies event, hosting a movie night playing Hidden Figures.
Wave Robotics’ Website: https://waverobotics.com/ Hello FIRST Ladies! We are Team 3512 Spartatroniks! Team 3512 is an FRC team located in Orcutt, California. Our team was founded in 2010 and competed in the 2011 season, ever since then we have been an active team and brought many opportunities to our community. While the Orcutt area has a lot of jobs in agriculture and aerospace, children did not have many clubs or organizations to get them involved in STEM before 3512 came along. After founding our team we began hosting yearly FLL qualifying tournaments. We also frequently participate in community events like our local parades. We are incredibly involved in our community, partnering with local organizations to do dinner auctions, fireworks booths, and other demonstrations in which we show off our robot. Since our time as a team, we have given many young kids access to STEM opportunities by starting local FLL teams. For the 2024 season, our team has a 50/50 gender ratio of men to women. Our leadership team is also 77% female, giving many women opportunities to grow their leadership skills. On November 4th, 2023 we hosted an FLL qualifying tournament for the Masterpiece season. The event was a huge success! During the lunch break at our event, we hosted a Women in STEM panel. Our panel consisted of five young women on Team 3512 planning to pursue STEM majors in college. Girls from 4th to 8th grade were able to ask questions about career pathways in STEM as well as specific questions about the panel members. Through this panel, young girls were able to gain information on careers in science, technology, engineering, and math that they would not have been able to otherwise easily learn. Thank you readers, Keep being amazing! FRC Team 3512 Spartatroniks  Hello to our blog readers!! The FIRST Ladies directors wanted to address our stance on inclusion, as we have recently received questions on this topic.
Gender inclusion is vital because it recognizes and respects the diversity of all genders. It means creating an inclusive and welcoming environment where everyone feels valued and included, regardless of their gender identity. Gender inclusion promotes equality and ensures that people of all genders have the same rights, opportunities, and access to resources. It's about breaking free from stereotypes and allowing individuals to express their true selves, without judgment or discrimination. Ultimately, gender inclusion helps to build a more tolerant and harmonious society where everyone can thrive. Therefore, the purpose of FIRST Ladies is to promote and support gender inclusion of all kinds through our partners and their outreach. If you ever have additional questions about our stance on diversity and inclusion let us know! - FIRST Ladies Directors CMU DEI FIRST DEI Being a part of outreach, I go to all the community events and work with kids from the ages of 3 to 12. The events hosted by Vertigo (FTC 18523) range from driving our outreach bot Plowie to teaching kids chemistry, physics, and how to understand patterns. When young girls come to these events, they all engage and have fun with the lesson, but it makes me ask myself, “Why don’t they continue with STEM as they get older?”
Growing up, I loved to play with LEGO®s. But, like many young girls, I played with LEGO Friends instead of the original LEGO sets. Aside from every build set including at least one shade of pink, LEGO Friends pieces were larger, simpler. Instead of complex mechanisms like cars, spacecrafts, and robots, I was told to make gardens, restaurants, and shopping malls. But I cannot fault LEGO for all of this. LEGO did not tell me that I could only play with LEGO Friends, I can thank society for that. From an early age, girls are taught that STEM is a subject not meant for them, that they are not welcome to play with the “other” toys. This stigma around embracing STEM is no secret. But companies have been improving throughout the years, and many stand out for having consistently been a positive influence. Barbie has tried to beat these stereotypes by having the Barbie doll become anything a girl could ever dream of becoming. Despite making multiple controversial Barbies in the past, Barbie has served as a strong role model for young girls by creating figures that work a variety of jobs. When I was still figuring out my interests, I could look to Barbie to feel like I could do anything. I could be a pilot, astronaut, architect, or even the president. My involvement in robotics outreach has allowed me to understand that I wasn’t alone in my experience and it’s important to help girls understand that they can participate in STEM. Childhood experiences with toys like LEGO Friends, while enjoyable, underscored societal biases nudging girls away from the complexity of STEM. Despite these challenges, positive influences, exemplified by companies like Mattel’s Barbie, are breaking stereotypes and offering diverse role models. While the journey to eliminate gender bias in STEM continues, these strides indicate a hopeful future where young girls feel empowered to pursue any path they envision.
Hi to all of our blog readers! We are the co-directors of FIRST Ladies: Mia, Megan, and Hannah. We are all high school students on FRC team 3504. Our team, Girls of Steel, is an all girls team based at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Appointed members of our team have been running the FIRST Ladies community since 2019. We are excited to kick off this season with all of our current and prospective FIRST Ladies partners. In order to best connect with teams in the early stages of the year, us directors held a meeting for all teams interested in FIRST Ladies.
On Tuesday 9/19/23 and Wednesday 9/20/23, the FIRST Ladies co-directors virtually met with 11+ different teams across the world in our Zoom Meet-Ups! We started the event by presenting a slideshow discussing the best parts about being a FIRST Ladies regional partner. We also talked about what we do as co-directors and the resources we provide to each and every FIRST ladies partner. You can view that slideshow here: https://linktr.ee/ladiesinfirst We also got the chance to thoroughly describe the brand new FIRST Ladies Certificate of Recognition program. This is an award opportunity for our Regional Partners to demonstrate their devotion to our mission. More information about the program can be found in the slideshow above! Our favorite part of the Zoom Meet-ups however was our Q&A and discussion time after the presentation. We shared our experiences as a woman in the STEM field and at FIRST competitions. We discussed how empowering being on an all-girls team can be, but how we can still feel excluded at competitions. Our personal experiences can encourage teams to spread the important message of gender inclusion in STEM activities. We also got to hear the personal experiences of the team members who attended the meet-ups. Their stories were impactful, and we are excited to help them continue to run awesome outreach programs! If you want to make sure you don’t miss out on events like this in the future, follow our instagram page @ladiesinfirst !! Want to contribute to our blog or learn more about our program? Contact us: [email protected] |
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