Team Spotlight
       

This month we shine the spotlight on two teams - FRC 3661 RoboWolves and FRC 4935 T-Rex.  These two teams are co-hosts for our upcoming off-season event, THOR (Thundering Herd of Robots).  And we are relieved to learn that the RoboWolves survived Hurricane Florence relatively unscathed!  Read on for more about these two wonderful teams...

Tell us about your team:  where you are from, who is on the team...

RoboWolves:  Our team is from a small rural county on the border of North and South Carolina halfway between Charlotte and the coast.  The largest employer in our town is our school system followed by the local Wal-Mart. We have great diversity within our team in reference to ethnicity, sexual orientation, other extracurriculars, etc.  It has always been the one thing I have been most proud of my team for is their willingness to be inclusive and accepting of anyone and to appreciate and even celebrate their differences. 

T-Rex: Team T-Rex was founded in 2013 out of a partnership between Olympic High School in Charlotte, North Carolina and Bosch Rexroth.  T-Rex is a combination of T for Trojans, the Olympic High School Mascot and Rex, from Bosch Rexroth. Greater than 50% of our team qualifies for free/reduced lunch, 45% of the students are from a minority group and 33% of the students are female.  

What has been a highlight for your team over the years?

T-Rex: We have been very lucky to have a lot of highlights over the years! Our first season we won the Rookie Inspiration Award and have continually tried to maintain a standard of excellence. One of the biggest highlights we had as a team was winning the Wake County District Event in 2016 and one of the most emotional was winning the Innovation in Control award in 2018.

RoboWolves: The biggest highlight for our team over the years is two-fold - the first being that we simply still exist.  It is a struggle for us to meet the registration deadline every year and every year it is a celebration when we have the money by the deadline.  The biggest season highlight came last year when we earned a spot on the field to choose our own alliance. We were able to earn the 5th spot alliance position and choose two other teams to be our alliance partners.  This was a big deal to us as it has been 10 years in the making and was a special moment for the team. My proudest moment was when my alliance captain chose one team for their strategic help, and then specifically looked for another team like ours from a small town who just needed someone to take a chance on them and invite them into the finals, like T-Rex had done for us a few years ago.

Tell us about one struggle your team has overcome and how you did so.

RoboWolves:  Like so many teams, I could list our biggest struggle as money and how we struggle to raise enough money every year to fund our team.  However, there are many teams in that situation and every team has their money problems. One struggle that may resonant with more teams on a personal level is that we have had a difficult time finding support from within our school system in keeping our program alive and growing. We have had to work tirelessly one person at a time to build support for our program by participating in all kinds of different programs and presentations during the off-season to build support in our community, when then extended to support from our school board, and then to our central office.  Even now, in our tenth year, we are still having conversations about whether or not our FIRST team will be supported by the school system or not. We have built strategic partnerships within our community, but do not want to make things more difficult for our students by pulling out of the school system if we don't have to.

T-Rex: One of the biggest struggles our team has is fundraising. We require no up front money from our team, because a lot of our students experience generational poverty and economic fragility. Many are first generation Americans and with half of our team qualifying for lunch assistance, a large joining fee is just not possible.  Somehow, the team always pulls together to find sponsors, do fundraisers and find the money to pay for our season. 

What words of wisdom would you give to a rookie team?

T-Rex: I think the best words of wisdom we could give to a rookie team are learn from everyone. There are so many amazing teams out there and everyone is always willing to help a rookie team with whatever they need.  Every team has their own strengths and weaknesses, learn from all of them and find your own path.

 RoboWolves: Don't ever, ever, ever give up.  Even when you have no idea what you are doing or what next steps to take, keep doing what you think is the best next step and everything will turn our all right.  There is always someone an email or a phone call away and we have all been there. The struggle is absolutely real.

What does FIRST mean to you and your team?  

RoboWolves: FIRST to me and my team means fun, frustration, excitement, learning, travel, IHOP, opportunity, robots, and family.

T-Rex: FIRST means hope and opportunity.  FIRST means family. FIRST has given so many of our students a way to do things that their parents never dreamed were possible. No matter if you were on the team for 1 year or 4+ years, you are a T-Rex for life.