Avni - Week 16: Once Upon A Time
A memory I wish I could relive forever is the moment my old robotics team got qualified for state championships. Although many may not know, I used to be a part of another robotics team that was more community based and only had six people compared to the typical fifteen. We were an underground team that didn’t have many sponsors and had a mentor that was an inch over crazy.
We had no hope of making it all the way to states with what seemed like all the odds against us. Our two painstaking fails once in December and the next in January wrapped up our season. The same season that our beloved senior—who carried our code, was our group leader, and our designated uber driver—was leaving. The same season where we pulled all nighters before competitions and leaving for energy drinks together at 3 AM like a second habit. The same season that introduced me to the new world of robotics and my second family. With our ups and downs, we created a year of unforgettable effort, and made me seem like a nerd obsessed with robotics to the rest of the world—this is my fourth time writing about it.
Two weeks before states and with our defeat, we grudgingly set up to meet that Friday to pack up the garage. During that same Wednesday, I was falling asleep to a pre calc lesson when my teammate who sits in front of me whips back and tells me to check my email. With laze, I opened my phone to what seemed like the only thing that would stop the world.
“We are pleased to inform you that a spot has opened up for this weekend’s qualifier—the last of this season.”
My teammate and I become frantic, we start spamming the group chat figuring out what our next plan is and what we need to fix. With my parents traveling, I’m left alone for the weekend and the freedom to work until I couldn’t. This was it. This was our chance.
With the six of us walking in with nerves, coffee on empty stomachs, and 48+ hours of no sleep, the six of us were ready to be the center of the stage. Before that though, I ended up throwing up the coffee, and now, it’s a good omen before my competitions.
As the day went on, we continued to be uncontested and the taste of another competition at the state level was watering in our mouths. When the award ceremony came around, our nerves were up and when we heard our name not once, but twice for qualifying, the moment felt like Hozier’s Yell.
With that competition and team in the past, this memory continues to stay a defining moment of why I love this curricular. The double win and that family will stay a defining moment as a core memory of my high school years.
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Hi Avni! If there’s one thing that I learned about you this year, it’s that you really love robotics!! But in all seriousness, I can tell that robotics is something that you’re really passionate about, and I love hearing all your stories about these crazy experiences. I really enjoyed how detailed your blog was this week, and I felt as if I was reliving this moment with you as I read through your blog. I’m so happy that you were able to have such good experiences in robotics, and it’s so awesome that the unexpected opportunity that your team received turned out so well! I think that for many highschoolers, robotics has become a core memory for us solely because of how much time and effort we spend on this activity. I can really relate to so many of your descriptions, especially the ones about staying up late to work on your robot, because of my experiences on my old robotics team as well. Although I don’t do robotics anymore, I feel like these memories will last with me throughout the rest of my life because of the way that they introduced me to a new world of engineering and computer science. I think that your blog was able to encompass many of the feelings and experiences of being on a high school robotics team really well, and I enjoyed being able to recognize and relate to many of your descriptions. Also, the screenshot that you uploaded was so funny! Thank you for sharing Avni!
ReplyDeleteHi Avni! I love how committed you are to robotics. Every other blog you write about it, and I find it so cool. It is amazing how you originally were not going to the qualifiers, but then something suddenly changed, and it’s even more amazing how your name was called twice. I find the screenshot you shared so funny, especially the person who just spammed their keyboard like five times; I would be reacting the same way if I were in the position you were in. I do want to comment on the detail that you threw up your coffee, and the fact that it has happened enough for you to consider it a good omen (maybe just maybe consider drinking a coffee that is not out to kill you). Thank you for sharing!
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