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About Team Shockwave 2007

Team 1742 is led by students participating in the Pre-Engineering Program at Moore Norman Technology Center. The goal of MNTC's Pre-Engineering Program (and FIRST Robotics) is to better prepare our students for a 4 year engineering degree after completing high school. FIRST Robotics is a component of our (EDD) Engineering Design and Development capstone course. Click here to find out more about Pre-Engineering at the Moore Norman Technology Center website

Team 1742 - Shockwave

Chairman's Award Submission

For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology is the purpose of the FIRST Robotics Competition, and at the heart of the efforts of the Pre-Engineering Program's Team 1742 at Moore Norman Technology Center of Norman, Oklahoma. This is the second year that Team 1742 has been a part of this organization, and since the beginning we have been compelled to travel around Oklahoma sharing our experiences and our excitement about the FIRST Robotics Competition. We have made presentations about FIRST to adult and student groups, written curriculum to help teachers incorporate FIRST into the school day, and used last year's robot, Sprocket as a "hook" to successfully increase enrollment in our Pre-Engineering Program. We targeted other technology centers around the state to become involved in FIRST, and were pleased when Tri-County Technology Center and Metro Technology Center (whom we are mentoring) decided to participate this year. Although we are engineering oriented because of the nature of our program, our message has been not about the robot, but about the unique experiences of teamwork, learning and applying science and technology, accountability, problem solving and fun that FIRST provides.

In the public's eye the cost of participation in FIRST is prohibitive, and remains a stumbling block for the growth of FIRST. We are fortunate to have quality sponsors for our team that recognize the long term impact of FIRST on the lives of students and the community. As a result of presentations by students and our instructors, the University of Oklahoma College of Engineering, Johnson Controls/York International, Mickey Clagg and Moore Norman Technology Center have all committed recourses to assure a quality experience for the students of Team 1742. We have toured the OU College of Engineering and regularly participate in engineering contest sponsored by OU. Tim Long, an OU mechanical engineering student, is one of our team mentors and has helped with the machining of critical parts of our robot. We have toured the Johnson Controls/ York manufacturing plant, and talked to their professionals about careers in engineering. Mickey Clagg was gracious enough to purchase a trailer for us which has enabled us to take our show on the road so much easier. As a bonus, Houston Robotics is gracious in hosting the Lonestar Regional, and giving us a large grant to aid in our registration costs.

We want every student in Oklahoma to have the opportunity we have had. In an effort to change perceptions about the "high" cost of the FRC, we took our message to those people that control the money. We made presentations to the Oklahoma State School Board Association (OSSBA) annual convention in Oklahoma City , the Oklahoma Career Tech Convention in Tulsa , OK., the Oklahoma Pre-Engineering Conference, and the Career Tech Directors meeting. We explained FIRST Robotics and its purpose of inspiring kids to achieve greatness while displaying gracious professionalism, and to have fun while doing it. We emphasized the impact that this experience has on student engagement and growth, and how it changes students' lives and goals. We shared how FIRST Robotics is the greatest hands-on experience that we could ever be apart of while still in high school. We are given a problem, a time limit, a cost limit, and limited knowledge. In six weeks we have to work as a team to try and figure out how to come up with a solution to the problem that works while staying under our budget. The greatest thing about what we do in FIRST Robotics is that we have to learn to work as a team in every way. Many people believe that engineers just sit alone in an office and work by themselves to figure out a problem. With FIRST Robotics, we have learned that it is all a team effort. Everyone provides their knowledge about a particular area and we combine all the ideas to come up with our final solution, and create it together. FIRST Robotics is also an excellent learning experience for both the students and the mentors. We have learned so much in only two years competing. We have extensively researched problems to get our robot fixed just right. We have learned how to "think on our toes", work with people we hardly know, and we have developed good time management skills, all are good skills to have for the future. As we shared all this with adults in position to effect change, we were met with enthusiasm, and we fielded several questions on how this could be incorporated into the classroom and programs. We also made presentations to our local school boards and administrators, which were repeat broadcast on the school cable channel for a month resulting in more positive feedback. We think we are making significant progress on changing the cost/benefit equation of FIRST in the minds of the people who control the purse strings.

We visited many of the schools within the Moore and Norman school districts to raise awareness about FIRST. When we go out to different schools with the robot, we always get a similar reaction from our audience. As we walk in the door with the robot on the cart we hear everyone saying things like, "Wow! What is that, and what does it do?" Every time it makes us smile because we created something that will inspire others. When we do our presentations we drive the robot around and show what it does for our audience. At every presentation there are several individuals who seem inspired by what we have shown them. We did a presentation at a local Jr. High, and there was an eighth grade girl in the front row who apparently was confused about her future at the beginning of our presentation, but by the time we left she seemed to know what she wanted to do with her life - she wanted to go into engineering. As she approached us and asked us questions about our pre-engineering program, FIRST, and the robot, the look on her face was enough satisfaction for us. We knew right then we had accomplished our goal of inspiring someone to achieve greatness.

Many people do not understand exactly what a robot is. While visiting a school to promote Moore Norman Technology Center , we had a girl approached our team, and the robot, and say, "That's not a robot, it doesn't have an arm." We calmly explained to her that it was indeed a robot, and gave her a step by step explanation of the robot, why we built it, and what it does. We also explained to her that engineers are societies' problem solvers, and work to make life better by using math, science and technology. Some people are not aware of many things that go on in the world, which is why we are here; to give them a look into something they didn't know about.

There are countless people around the world that believe that engineers are the people who drive trains, or that scientists are those nerdy people who live in the big houses. We are here to help those people understand that engineers develop and design the items that are used in their every day lives. FIRST Robotics helps us to explain ourselves better by having an example of our work. Most people learn about something better if they have a visual image to look at. We are able to show them what we do in our class, and how everything comes together. Every person is responsible for a different part of the robot, and the completed robot just shows how our teamwork and dedication comes together to make the final product.

This year we almost had a regional here in Oklahoma , but didn't quite get enough teams to sign up. Our dream for next year is to have our own regional here in the great state of Oklahoma . The goal is for as many teams as possible in Oklahoma to become involved in FIRST, and hopefully incorporate it into their school day much like we do at Moore Norman Technology Center . We have spent many months working hard towards this goal. Team Shockwave's dreams and goals seem closer to being achieved, and it feels good to see progress toward that goal. There remains a lot of work to do, but the benefits of participation in FIRST warrant the sacrifice if it means more people can share in the FIRST experience.

All of our team members are very excited about FIRST Robotics. We are all known at our individual high schools as the class at Moore Norman Technology Center who builds the cool robot every year. FIRST Robotics has made learning fun for us all. It is a hands-on learning experience which tests our skills and knowledge. It teaches us to work as a team to get something done in a short time. FIRST Robotics helps prepare students around the world to become something great and to help the world, because experience creates success. FIRST Robotics gives us a step through the door to success.

Our team has a unique way of doing things; we are all gathered from four different high schools whose sports teams cause a very competitive atmosphere when we are brought together. Yet we all work very well together for the FIRST Robotics competition and we get the job done. We have worked very hard to share the tremendous benefits of participating in FIRST Robotics with hundreds of adults and students around the state of Oklahoma , and we are beginning to see the results of our commitment.

Our Homework Assignment

A copy of this letter was sent to our represenatives in the Senate and House.