FIRST Robotics was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen. FIRST is an acronym for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. FIRST Robotics is an international youth organization that runs robotics competitions for kids in elementary and high school. At the high school level, a new game is presented each January and the teams have a specified amount of time in which to build a robot to participate in the game.
Our school's team was begun in 2009. Three of my five children participated in various roles on the team. (The team was not yet in existence at our school when my older two were in high school.)
My middle child completed college and obtained employment near home. He's a computer programmer by trade. He served as a volunteer assistant mentor with his old high school team two years ago which still had the same head mentor/coach who had established the program.
The following year the head mentor decided to step down from the program. My son then entered the role of head mentor. As the new school year began that fall, the athletic director began the search for a new assistant mentor for the program.
As I teach in the district, I saw the email offering this new position to staff. I wondered who would step up to fill this open spot. As there were no takers after the intial email, I strongly suggested to some of my young and single female co-workers that this would be a great opportunity for any one of them. (See what I did there? Single son in need of an assistant. Two birds with one stone!)
But, alas, there were still no applicants for the position. The robotics season begins in earnest in early November, and it was now October.
Our team has a great sponsor in our local 3M plant who has paid our FIRST fees each year since the team's inception. My son who was still assistant mentor-less had just tried to register the team for the coming season on the FIRST website. "Mom?" he said, hesitantly "FIRST won't let me sign up and we can't access our funds unless our team has at least two mentors. Will you be the assistant mentor?"
So I wasn't the mentor the team wanted, but I was the mentor the team needed. I said "yes" to be sure the team would go on. I said "yes" so that future team members would have the opportunity to learn programming and CAD (computer aided design), complete electrical wiring, gain valuable building skills, practice problem solving in high-pressure situations, work on their public speaking skills and a host of other great opportunities for high school students. I said "yes" to try something new, and I said "yes" to help my son.
So that's how I became an accidental robotics coach. I may not have entered the position whole-heartedly, but now I'm a true believer!
https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc
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