I never thought I’d be an advocate for girls in STEM, but here I am.
On Saturday, February 24, this all-girl team won the FIRST Tech Challenge Los Angeles Regional Championship out of 50 of the best teams this division has to offer. And Los Angeles has a pretty stellar pool of robotics teams.
This isn’t something I ever would have thought a child of mine would be involved in but it has completely changed Amanda’s life.
A little about FIRST Robotics
- There are 4 different programs
- FIRST Lego League Jr. (for kids 6 - 10)
- FIRST Lego League (for grades 4 - 8)
- FIRST Tech Challenge (for grades 7 - 12)
- FIRST Robotics Competition (for grades 9 - 12)
- The difference between the FIRST Tech Challenge (that Amanda is in) and FIRST Robotics is the size of the robot. FIRST Tech builds smaller-scale robots, usually 18″ x 18″, and FIRST Robotics builds industrial size robots.
- There are teams all over the world. Amanda’s team mentors several foreign teams.
- There are division competitions and Inter-League competitions. If you make it past the Inter-League competition, you compete in the Regional Championship. Those that promote from the Regional Championship head to the Western Regional (this year in Spokane, WA). From the Western Regional, the winners will go on to the World Championship. The World Championship gets divided into different regions so you aren’t actually competing against the entire World. Our region will be held in Houston, Texas and will have teams from the United States and many foreign countries.
Each year there is a challenge that is created by the FIRST Tech Challenge Committee and each team is required to build their robot to perform certain tasks in the challenge. It takes design skills, mechanical skills, and programming skills to follow the robotic rules as well as be able to actually perform the tasks. The teams don’t have a lot of time either. They get their challenge for the new season in September and first competitions begin in November.
So, how did we get here?
Two years ago, we took Amanda to a presentation at a local high school given by several women who worked at JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory - NASA). The talk was interesting as we learned what each woman’s position was in the company and what their background was. But the talk wasn’t nearly as eye-opening as when Amanda saw a small team of girls demonstrating their robot. She was hooked. She said to us, “That’s what I want to do.” And we signed her up.
Her first year being involved, the team went all the way to the World Championship. We are hoping for the same this year. It’s been such an incredible opportunity for her and it’s a program that teaches life skills, not just robotics skills. She is hoping to major in mechanical engineering in college and work in the animatronics field.
The beauty of this program is that there are so many areas you can explore. You don’t have to want to be an engineer, or even want to study robotics, to get something valuable out of being a part of FIRST. Just like we learned from the JPL event, there is a need for women in all aspects of STEM - sure, science and math are important, but JPL, for instance, needs graphic designers and video experts and lawyers and human resource experts.
Why you should be involved in FIRST Robotics
- You learn skills that might not be taught in school such as
- Speaking skills
- Design and building
- Coding and CAD
- Engineering
- Gracious Professionalism
- Access to FIRST scholarships for college
- Opportunity to meet other kids from all over the world
- The ability to meet engineering professionals
If you think your daughter, or a young girl you know, would be interested in learning more (and possiblity joining a local team), I’d be happy to put you in touch with someone who can provide more information. There are existing teams all over the country and many more new teams forming. I’d also encourage you to come out to one of the competitions and experience the program for yourself. It could be a turning point in your child’s life.
Congrats!
Thank you so much!