Wesley Reed | Honors Experiences
This year, I decided to return to my high school robotics team as a mentor so I could help give back to the team. I had an amazing experience with the team when I was a student, and I wanted to make sure that others could have that same opportunity.
At the beginning of this season, our mentor Paul George passed away after a long battle with cancer, which was very hard on our team. Paul was affectionately referred to by the team as “Dad” and we call our other team leader Jimmy, “Mom” because of how they interacted together and because we consider the whole team to be a family. In his memory, we named this year’s robot after him.
On top of this, our season was cut short by COVID-19 and we only got to compete at one event. We did very well at the event and even won an award for having the most aesthetically pleasing robot! I also had lots of fun being a referee for the matches, making sure every match was fair and properly scored.
Despite the season being cut short, we were still able to use our resources and knowledge to impact our community. The team tasked our 3D printers to turn out mask “Ear Savers” for the teachers in our school district, which got featured on the local news!
Huge SHOUTOUT to the Lakota Robotics Team! They engineered and 3D printed 2,200 mask “ear savers” for our teachers and staff. Thank you Mr. Nichols and our Robotics Team. #WEareLakota @LakotaRobotics pic.twitter.com/nMSpnu10HW
— Matt Miller (@LakotaSuper) August 13, 2020
@LakotaRobotics @EAST_HAWKS What an awesome donation! I recognize that Thunderhawk! #WEareLakota pic.twitter.com/6zeK682ezS
— Jaime (@Giant_GiantsFan) September 5, 2020
We were also able to participate in the AndyMark Robot Fight Night where students make robots out of cardboard and plastic to fight in a friendly competition. While fighting isn’t directly in the mission of FIRST robotics, this event is very well put together and everyone still feels the values of FIRST throughout the competition.
Click here to view the reflections written during the experience