2023-2024
The ‘23-’24 season was my first within robotics, and it beheld the largest learning curve of all years. Here is where I learned every technical foundation (of our team’s design process, team roles, CAD, manufacturing, assembly, competitions, etc). Not only did I grasp how to make a robot, but how to market one too! To give brief context, there are usual 2 part of the First Tech Challenge’s competition: Judging and Performance. Judging is where I picked up a fondness for public speaking and efficient communication. My main contribution, other than learning all I could, was being our main 3D-printing personnel. I did all of our slicing and printing—that usually meant the printer was inexorably on in order to meet and accelerate our assembly of the robot.
2025-2026
JuniorYear was my first year as Project Manager for Hydra, where I learnt the intricacies of leading a team. My co-Project Manager and I learnt the various processes, notably SWOT, to evaluate current team skills and understand how to effectively cultivate what everyone brought to the table. That said, I formed lesson plans for the summer in order to teach our incoming rookie members. Throughout the season, we utilized weekly meetings to ensure everyone knew deadlines and had a place for discussion if any concerns/ideas came to mind. We both ensured to create a strong team culture that ensured inclusion, which we believe is the reason behind our team’s success. Personally, for the team, I created a 16-page Engineering portfolio (60 hrs of work) and helped set up an international outreach program—ATLAS Campaign— of which 6 of the 7 continents were reached, which won us several awards. Notably, we made it to the States competition, winning the Inspire Award, alongside 3 Connect Awards.
Robotics
2024-2025
My second year in robotics, and my main focus was when I began to pursue leadership and delegation within my team. I was Hardware Lead, meaning I kept an eye and managed on construction deadlines and managed task delegation within the hardware sub-team. The ‘24-’25 year is also when I finished my shop-training, allowing me to master the usage of CNC Routers, bandsaws, sanders, among many other tools. I focused on team dynamics this year as I was hoping to take a managing position the following year. This was to create the strongest team culture I could to motivate the entire team’s morale and tenacity to learn. Although I began to look at interpersonal constructs to create a stronger team next year, I was still head over heels in learning hardware and CAD. I expanded my knowledge primarily through the utilization of new mechanisms such as a turret (360 deg spin joint that holds the outtake/claw).
2026-2027
This is my final year of robotics, and as a Project Manager for 7161 Hydra. Over the summer, I created a Marketing 101 doc ready for my departure in tandem with teaching our rookie members myself on how to format and effectively convey information visually and textually to judges. I plan to spend my entire year filling in the technical holes that our concurrent Seniors will create in hopes of complete autonomy without us.