"My heart stood still as Glitch took its first shot"-University of Florida Essay

University of Florida Essay
In the space provided, please write a concise narrative in which you describe a meaningful event, experience or accomplishment in your life and how it will affect your college experience or your contribution to the UF campus community. You may want to reflect on your ideas about student responsibility, academic integrity, campus citizenship or a call to service.

3885 characters left-no more than 500 words

My heart stood still as Glitch took its first shot...SCORE! Upon reflecting on memorable events throughout my life, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics has been a life changing event for me. Facing challenges like this shape and influence my character, academics, and interests towards an enriching and contributing college career.

In my junior year I was personally invited by my calculus teacher, who saw great potential in me, to join my schools FIRST team. I was interested in working with other aspiring students and engineering mentors who share my passion and interest for engineering. As a first year rookie team, accepting the challenge with minimal experience, we dove headfirst into the arduous task of organizing ourselves and preparing for the build season. Having a passion in engineering and wanting to share it with others I displayed initiative by taking charge of being the lead mechanical engineer. With the assignment of mentoring fellow classmates the principles of engineering and overseeing the construction of Glitch, it was the perfect job for me.

Nationwide kickoff day marked the start of the build season, for each team to design and construct their final robot. The goal of designing a robot to play basketball, in a six week time span, against other teams of robots seemed challenging. During the six week build process, I worked after school with engineers from the community and my fellow student engineers on designing and forging the robot. The technical challenges were numerous and frustrating, but I was determined to persevere. Effectively leveraging my skills and knowledge attained, the final touches on the robot were completed. I was able to pack Glitch for the competition with a sense of pride as midnight struck...the deadline.

Walking onto center court I looked into the crowd, thousands of eyes returned my gaze. In realizing just how grand my achievements were to get this far, I set up Glitch for its first match. Watching the robot flip over in the first match, hearing the collective gasp from my teammates, filled me with doubt that Glitch would not get back up. I was determined to not let that happen. With only ten minutes until the next match I ran to the pit to evaluate the damage. Working against the clock, I struggled to replace the broken motor controller. Once the controller was repaired, with only seconds left, I rushed Glitch to our next match. Overcoming obstacles, Reynoldsburg FIRST Robotics Team placed second overall and won the Rookie All-Star award.

Seeing how much I have accomplished, grown, and learned from this experience, makes being part of this robotics team an unforgettable life changing event. This experience has taught me to pursue every opportunity, and strive towards being a successful contributing student. Attending The University of Florida will give me the chance to further use the skills developed from participating within a team of engineers, towards a unique and priceless educational experience.