Reflection Paper On Robotics Team

The most important and fun extracurricular activity I participate in is being a member of a FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Robotics Team. I first entered a robotics team in the eighth grade, participating in a similar program called FIRST Lego League (FLL). Before FLL, I had no idea about what I wanted to be when I grow up and frankly, I had no ambition. After being introduced to robotics in 2013, it has become my #1 passion in which I spend around an average of 4-6 hours per week - sometimes even more during the peak season.

Almost a year ago I started my first day of high school, to some people that may seem like one of the least important days of their life, but for me it made me realize that it was going to be the last year I walk through those doors to attend class, and the last time I step out onto the soccer field with some of my closest friends. As I walked through the double doors that would officially start my last year at USA High School, I looked up and my entire graduating classes names were posted up on the wall, where soon our pennants of the colleges we were going to attend would hang. High school holds some of the happiest memories for some people, from times they were at Friday night football games with their best friends, or late-night adventures they went on, but for me it was being on the soccer team. Throughout my entire high school career, I was happiest when out on the field, playing against local schools with the people I have gotten so close to over the years.

That was the beginning of the most riskful, yet most rewarding year of my high school career; a few precedents I made during the 2015-2016 year included getting a job, joining FFA, FCCLA, and the Academic Super Bowl teams, plus church work, simultaneously. I was fully aware that tackling this new schedule while having a heavy academic load would be challenging, because I was in all honors and Advanced Placement courses that left me with close to two hours of homework to complete each

There are several up and downsides of being a student athlete but, the feeling of being apart of a team and doing something you love is the ultimate reward. According to the NCAA, “More than 460,000 NCAA student-athletes – more than ever before – compete in 24 sports every year” (“Student-Athletes”). Being a student athlete you learn how to be a part of a team as well as developing leadership qualities. Throughout your entire high school and or college athletic career, you’re creating everlasting friendships and memories with teammates and coaches. Being a student-athlete, your main priority is school but, with a busy and jammed packed schedule it can get a little overwhelming. With a busy schedule, student athletes have no choice other than to manage their time wisely. Along with learning time efficiency, participating in sport teaches you to be goal oriented. When you’re involved in sports, you push yourself physically and emotionally. You begin to set goals to better not only for yourself, but to better your team as well. Ultimately, there are several benefits of

In my current school, St. Jerome’s, I participate in almost everything sport and activity that I can and enjoy participating in. Through my future years at Hill-Murray, I know that all the activities and sports that I participate in at St. Jerome School will be overtaken by the immense amounts of homework that every high school student endures, but others have managed, and so will I.

This limited my circle of friends to just the people I had known for years. My athletic endeavours also partially attributed to my academic shortcomings, as I focused more on them than I did on school. I realized I had to have better balance between my activities and school. Instead of coming home, skipping my homework, and immediately going to bed, I would stay up later to make sure all of my work was done before going to sleep. This balance allowed me to take on other activities in addition to my athletics. I since have become involved in Class Council, National Honor Society, and Academic Challenge. While the first two organizations primarily consist of service work to the school and the community, Academic Challenge invokes the competition of athletics into an academic setting. This has allowed me to make new friends while also experiencing the competitive aspect I have always enjoyed. Branching out in high school, while not easily done at first, greatly benefitted me, allowing me to diversify myself in areas other than athletics and to better manage

Discuss the most successful team experience you have had. What made the team successful? What was your role on the team?

Being a student-athlete has been the cornerstone of my educational career at La Crescent. There have been significant positives and hardships

A lot of people throughout the world go into college thinking that playing a division one sport would be something that would be a really significant thing to do and that it won’t be so difficult to do, as the individuals who are getting recruited and going to play a college sport to play the game. In college athletics today, teams are practicing and working out usually around five times a week. Student athletes have to manage their time between all their school work, practices, and sometimes even a part time job on the side. Not only is it a lot of stress put on these particular students, as they have a lot to do throughout the week juggling between all these aspects of being a college athlete, but it is a lot of sleepless nights as well.

We are the Lowell Red Devils, and with that name, we carry proud alumni that came before us. We were not always so memorable in the cheerleading world though. This past year we set a goal of making it to The National High School Cheerleading Championships, in Orlando Florida. To get to this competition we had to qualify in December, not only did we qualify but we placed first out of 15 teams. The energy and excitement was paralyzing, as we realized

The grind never stops day in and day out. It’s early in the morning and you’re going to school, followed by work or sports or maybe even both. After a long day, you finally come home, eat dinner, shower, text some friends and check social media. Before you know it, it’s 10 at night. Teens are struggling to maintain their academics with balancing their passions and work. As a student athlete, I find it hard at times to maintain good grades and pursuit my passions.

Tahoma High School has let me do exactly that. I wake up at 6:30 AM and pack three bags, my school bag, my lunch, and my sports bag. I have gone to school for 8 hours a day, spent about three more hours after school at practice, and then getting home around 7:00 PM still needing dinner, shower, and to do all the homework that’s due early the next day. A lot of people might wonder why i would do all of this but I just go through my day as anyone else would and there was no other way I would rather spend my highschool career. Athletes have a challenging time trying to upkeep with their school responsibilities. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining what so ever and Tahoma high School has let me accomplish all of my future goals that I have been able to do throughout these

Since you can't expect a new team to amaze when it first comes together, putting together a robust team that functions well was a challenge. The second challenge was the fact that we were all the same age and almost all had the same level of experience, which put an extra burden on me trying to influence the team and make them believe in me and trust me as a leader.

When most students think of the weekend, they think about sleeping in until noon and relaxing all day whether it be at the beach or just at home. Being an athlete, however, weekends are the exact opposite of sleeping in and having leisure time. Weekends for me usually start by being jolted awake by the sound of my alarm clock at five-thirty in the morning so I can begin packing my backpack with the things necessary for spending the entire day at a sports park. This may seem unpleasant and difficult to do, but when you simply love what you're doing, you learn focus on the positives rather than the negatives. Although I’ve been a multiple sport athlete from a young age, I didn't pick up on this positive mentality until my junior year in high

As president of Henderson County 4-H, part of my office was to collaborate with my officers and the officers of the clubs in my county. This collaboration offered me counsel for wise decisions, and gave me insights into the desires and needs of the members of Henderson County 4-H. Knowing the needs and desires for the future of 4-H in Henderson County, allowed me to effectively and accurately represent the members of my county. Another big teamwork activity I participated in was being an assistant leader at District 5 Yes Camp. I was the only assistant leader from my county, so I had only met the five other assistant leaders that night. We were required to collaborate together and come up with fun games for the 4-Her’s to compete in for time they were at camp. At the end of the camp, not only did the 4-Her’s have fun, but we as the assistant leaders had fun as well. The final teamwork activity I would like to talk about is when I was placed in charge of two teams of junior 4-Her’s and charged with the responsibility of educating them in the robotics project. I had always wanted to learn more about the Robotics project, but this was the first time it would be available in my