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Essay1 Draft Essay2 Complete
Essay1 Draft Essay2 Complete
Furiously typing away, I jog alongside my teammates as they heft our latest robot, Lola, to the
school gym for our next match. While I type the code, my friend reattaches the wheel, while
another replaces the recently burned-out motor. As we load the robot into the arena, I update
the code, hoping it will not result in another smoking, three-wheeled robot puttering in circles
while the opposing robots score plastic blocks on scales. On the floor, we were so focused on
fixing Lola that we hardly noticed the other three teams taking their positions. With the
spectators looking on from the stands, and the judges lifting their pencils, the match began with
a horn blast. The robots scattered across the field, and I steered Lola calmly while my
screaming teammates surrounded me.
During my sophomore year, six of my friends asked me to join their student-run robotics team.
Unlike most teams, including our schools, our little team was completely self-sufficient, save for
the funds from parents: we designed and coded our own robots, organized our own meetings,
and acquired all of our resources, which makes our team stand out among the rest.
In my first year I was tasked with building the railroad track that would enable precise movement
of the scoring arm and virtually eliminate human error. Additionally, I maintained an engineering
notebook detailing our teams process, which would be judged during competitions for one of
the many awards they give out. While my previous engineering experience topped out at Legos,
I wasted no time diving into the different metals, plastics, and tools to complete my job. The next
year my responsibilities expanded to include programming the robot in C. Again I found myself
tasked with something I had no prior experience with, so I spent my summer on YouTube and
within weeks coded a functional robot that proceeded to win multiple competitions including
several awards, most important of which being the highest honor award, the Inspire Award.
I am now the lead programmer on my team, and my experiences on the robotics team have
taught me to become a quick thinker, undaunted in the face of challenge, working independently
to solve complex problems. Lola taught me resilience, teamwork, and self-guidance. I also apply
the knowledge I gained from robotics to other areas such as tutoring computer science students
over the summer, and my engineering class while working on projects.
Robotics cannot be done perfectly each time; sometimes we encounter failure just like the code
that caused one of Lolas motors to burn out. When needed, I can apply my quick-thinking to
find the problem and fix it. In that competition, I had only two minutes to fix my code before the
next match, and I did. Lola was the dominating robot that day and I am proud that I was able to
assist my team.