I have been on my high school's robotics team, team Xbot, for all four years of high school. In these incredible four years I have learned many skills and gained invaluable experience that go beyond building robots. I have learned about teamwork, public speaking, and grace in defeat. My team has had varying amounts of success every year. In my first year we were a rookie team and had successfully qualified for the state competition where we experienced a crushing defeat. The next year, much to my surprise, I was promoted to team captain. At the time I did not fully understand the weight of my role until the end of the season during my junior year. Last year we successfully advanced to the regional competition held in Oakland, California. We were very …show more content…
I wanted to blame someone, something, anything at all. I began to think to myself that perhaps there was no one else to blame but me. I was the the team captain and therefore shouldered the responsibilities of the team. Our only reason for failure was because I did not do enough for the team, and that was unacceptable. What that experience taught me was that in order to become a term that deserves to win, I needed to transform myself into an effective leader. In pursuit of this goal I have taken steps this year to become more organized. I lay out daily tasks for the team, I try to improve interpersonal communication, and I do my best to make sure that everyone on my team is emotionally well and also on track during meetings. This year is my team's last year together and we all want to make it count. It simply isn't enough anymore to qualify. We wish to go further and ultimately become the winners of the world championships. My team still has a long and difficult road ahead of us but I am fortunate enough to work with many intelligent and talented people. Looking back on our successes and failures in the past is an integral part of moving forward and
When I found out that I was one of the captains of the Varsity Sideline team, I had a beaming smile and felt satisfied with my achievement. As captain, cheerleaders on the varsity and the JV squads come to me with questions and small issues, and I enjoy the opportunity to help them. I have become even more organized and mature because the coach looks to me for help. Being selected as lead captain has had many rewards, it gave me a boost of confidence and inspired me to campaign for other leadership
Just a few days prior, the Catalyst Color Guard, the team of which I am currently captain, won the Texas Color Guard Circuit State Championships. We earned the highest score in the 10-year history of our program after an incredibly successful season. What enabled us to succeed this past season was the leadership. As a junior and first lieutenant, I felt more confident in my own leadership skills and experience, and I was better equipped to serve my team this year. Our improved leadership style and work ethic improved our team as a whole. Our score increased with each
In all of the events I’ve competed in, learning from losses has given me a better learning experience than when I won a competition. During my second year in SkillsUSA I competed in many different events, performing an opening ceremony, explaining how to make an Ethernet cable, and running to be a leader at a district level in Texas just to name a few. In all of these competitions, I never really tried my hardest. I thought that I didn’t need to prepare or practice any of the skills that would have helped me. During the award ceremony, I was shocked to learn how mediocre I really did. This was especially true when the new District Officers were announced for the 2014-2015 school year and my name wasn’t announced. I soon realized that most of the other competitors have spent months practicing and preparing for this competition
To stay on the JMU cheer team or to quit was a very hard decision that I had to make this past month. Knowing I had leadership responsibilities as a third year veteran on the team made this decision extremely difficult for me. I had to consider all the parties involved which consisted of myself, my teammates, and my coaches. Several factors fell into play when deciding what was best not only myself but for my team as well. The first and most important factor I had to consider was my physical health as I have back problems that requires annual back procedures in order to be able to cheer. A relatively new factor in my decision making progress was the hiring of the new JMU cheer coach, which was extremely difficult for the upperclassmen to adjust to. My last few personal factors that played a role in my decision consisted of getting a job and focusing more on my school work. Next I had to consider what was best for the cheer team. I knew as an upperclassmen I needed to support the cheer program to help keep it strong and consistent during the coaching transition. This was hard to do when several other upper classmen were quitting the team due to this change. I also knew I had a responsibility to teach the incoming freshman new skills the same way the juniors and seniors taught me when I was a freshman. Not only did my team need me but I also took into consideration the contract I signed when making the team my freshman year. After taking everything into consideration
As a kid, I was born and raised to love the great game of baseball. Many young kids have had dreams to become professional athletes, and achieve prestigious awards/ titles. Like many kids I’ve always dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player. As a younger kid with my head in the clouds, I never really knew what it was like to put my actual blood, sweat, and tears into something I loved, until my worst season I had ever played. This whole story starts in the beginning of my ninth grade baseball season. It started out different from every other year because, of course I was a freshman. This was the first year I had ever practiced with the varsity squad, it was much more difficult, but I still figured I was going to do great. After weeks
In 2014 I was determined to make the high school soccer team. Every day at 8 am at the beginning of a dreadfully hot August morning, I would get to the turf fields for 4 hours and participate in “hell week”. After a long week, I made the JV team. I was never put into the game and felt like my hard work was put to no use. My sophomore year rolled around and I tried extra hard to impress the coaches. Anything and everything was a competition to make it to the top. By the end of the week, we all gathered around the paper that had names of the players who made it. I didn’t make the team. After tears and telling myself to move on, I went to the field hockey tryouts. I knew nothing about the sport and was terrified that soccer wasn’t my go-to
It was February of 2016, my robotics team “ERX” was at the state championship. That day was the first year the seniors had left the team, so we had to carry on their legacy. In a finals match I was driving in the manual control period. The timer hit 30 seconds and end game started. The coach said to go and hang the robot for 60 points. Last match we could not get the robot to hand since the mechanism was not reliable. I ignored him and went and scored 4 blocks for 30 points. After the score was added up, we lost…by 10 points. After the match, the entire team was disappointed, but the mentor pulled me outside and started yelling. He said as a driver I am required to follow the coaches orders and should have went to hang, which would have won us
In sixth grade I begged my parents to create a First Lego League Team; instead of one team they created three FLL Teams. FLL Teams compete in tournaments with preprogrammed Lego robots built by students under the guidance of high school mentors. Alongside these robots the teams must also develop a solution to a problem regarding to that year’s theme, such as smart moves where we had to solve the transportation problems of today. By challenging my parents to create this club, I inadvertently spawned the creation of three of the most successful FLL Teams in our town. Now, my friends and I compete on the High School Robotics Team. My hard work in FLL was noticed, because the High School Robotics Team named me as the subteam leader for all of the FLL activities and events that our team coordinates within our
Throughout my life, I had always received recognition for being very agile and quick. My first day of Middle School consisted of the track and field coach attempting to persuade me to join the school’s athletics program. I had previously never been apart of an athletics team, and was willing to take advantage of the opportunity. Throughout my three years of middle school, I was the one consistent member of the school’s track and field team and had an overall successful personal record. Coaches from opposing school would praise me leaving me feeling very confident about myself.
I went to Bentonville High School not knowing there was even a robotics team. Come to find out two weeks too late that we had not one, not two, but three teams. The day the next school year started, I applied. I got accepted, and we started work in October. It was weird being the only girl on the team. But nobody else cared. My team and the other two accepted me with no qualms. After only a month, it was like I was one of the guys.
This team had 15 kids on the roster who have never played baseball in their life. The first few practices were rough but slowly and slowly we could see things falling into place. Finally the season started and it wasn’t very pretty. We would the first game but ended up losing the next 4 making our record 1-4 with only 4 games left and needing to win-out to make playoffs. The big problems we faced as a coaching staff were that the kids didn’t see us as coaches, they saw us as older kids and the same could be said about the parents. Practices started having only 5-7 kids at a time and we couldn’t get anything done. When I got home one day I typed up an email to all the parents. “Dear Parents, it starts with you!” The email went on and talked about their kids not being able to get better because you don’t bring them to practice and it shows on game day. If you do not bring them they are not going to start and it all starts with you as a parent. Luckily for us games kept getting rained out and it gave us more and more chances to practice, this time with all 15 players. Finally the first game came sent the email was sent and we won 17-1. After the game me and the coaching staff just had one quick thing to say to everyone. “It starts with you parents. You buy into what I am doing as a coach and we will get results like this every game.” We ended up winning
A year later, I was again chosen for the team. This time, I worked my way from being a back-up catcher to the starting 3rd baseman in two weeks. But after going 0-2 in my first two at-bats, my coach took me out of the starting line-up. Again, I pinch-hit, and was very successful at it. I even hit what turned out to be a game-winning homerun. We later reached the championship game again, but we lost it for the second time. This time I was more frustrated than I could ever remember being. I was slamming my hand into walls and almost crying. I was really acting very childish.
Throughout my experience as a VHS athlete, I have learned to be an effective leader, work well under pressure, manage my time, and most importantly, be able to put the team before myself. Currently the Vermilion Competitive Cheerleading Squad is preparing to compete in the State Competition in March. I am so proud of us as this has not been done before. My biggest wish is that no matter the outcome, we leave Columbus knowing that we gave it our all and arrive back in Vermilion with great
Just this year, I was voted the Vice President of my high school Robotics team. Although it’s by far one of my proudest achievements, at first, I didn’t understand why I was given such an honor. I’ve been in my high school Robotics club since freshman year, I’ve attended every single meeting, fundraiser, and event, and I’m an avid lover of programming and robotics. Yet, with all of this, I didn’t think I would be an official for my Robotics club. This was mainly due to the fact that I possess all of the qualities that I thought a leader shouldn’t have. I’m kind of a shy guy, I’m not very confident in myself, and I’m usually pretty quiet. Most people believe that great leaders are supposed to be self-assured, outgoing, and expressive. I’m none
Thumbs Out A girlfriend of mine once defended me to her father by saying, calmly, “Not everyone who wanders is lost.” The dad kicked me out of the house anyway. But the damage had been done. Not everyone who wanders is lost.