Begin And continue Entering Robotics Competition Rural High School by Jeremiah

Begin And continue Entering Robotics Competition Rural High School by Jeremiah - January 2024 Scholarship Essay

I had been in several robotic groups, all the way to leading a group Seaperch Remote Operated Vehicle (R.O.V.) summer project for my NJROTC in my junior to senior year in high school. I have learned that failure is a part of the process and can teach you how to do better next time. To persevere over failure, you need the following qualities: resilience, courage, curiosity, and a desire for knowledge. While at the Boys and Girls Club, Mrs. Jessica Moore had mentors, helped with homework, shared experiences, and engaged us all with fun games. The mentors and leaders in the boys and girls club taught us what kind of men and women we wanted to be when we grew up. I felt the most impactful opportunity was the Lego robotics team. We worked very hard on our Legos. Mrs. Moore rewarded us with a trip to Atlanta for a Lego field trip. That was an exciting experience.

This robotics Lego experience changed or established my trajectory. While I did not know what a mechanical engineer meant, I knew I wanted to build robots, put things together, and figure out how to fix movable pieces in several objects. Had my parents not needed after-school care for my brother and me, I may not have had this opportunity to learn and experience engineering.

I discovered that people build robots for a living, it captivated my attention. My trajectory became fully established, on February 18, 2021, I watched the Mars rover “Perseverance” landing happen at the end of the school day and when I got home, I continued to be entranced. Watching the rover land and move was an incredible sight; however, it made my desire to build things, specifically robots, grow more than before. I had been in several robotic groups, from elementary age, The Boys and Girls Club, robotics Lego club, a Talented and Gifted Lego robotic class in 6th grade, all the way to leading a group Seaperch Remote Operated Vehicle (R.O.V.) summer project for my NJROTC in my junior to senior year in high school.

While in Colorado, I was part of a NJROTC robotics team, but there was no robotics team when I switched schools. Only when I moved from Colorado back to Alabama my enthusiastic conversations and experience in robotics piqued my Senior Naval Science Instructors' interest. He offered me the chance to start a Seaperch team and have me spearhead its build, which has been successful. I started this team in May 2023 that we are still active with. This SeaPerch is meant to discover and explore the ocean floor. This project required long hours of research because I had taken on the role of summer group leader. To my knowledge, Rehobeth High School has not participated in any robotics competition, so I had to use the experience I previously had, the internet, and remember information from a robotics and coding class I took in middle school while in Colorado. At first, I recruited 10-12 other students; we met a couple of times a week, but as the summer weeks passed, fewer and fewer students continued to show up. After testing our battery pack, we realized we had a dud. Thankfully I have a job so I saved enough and went to a battery store to buy a new battery for our use. I used two weeks full pay to pay for it. Sometime around July 4, they had decided the others had too many obligations, or I had conflicting work schedules, but at this point, all we had figured out was 25% of the build. I didn't let that stop me; I soldered, unsoldered, wired, and rewired the build. Many more hours and a few failed trials ensued alone. When school started again in August, we had more meetings and finished the Seaperch in September. There is a smaller seaperch competition in late Jan that our Colonel of NJROTC may enter us in for a test run before we join DISL SeaPerch Alabama Regional in March, the school's first-ever entry.

I hope they continue entering robotics competitions, and maybe soon, my younger brothers and sister will be a part of the legacy I am trying to leave behind. Introducing STEM in schools is important because had I not been introduced while in the Boys and Girls club at 4th grade I may not have the goals I have now. So, getting the high school to have a Seaperch team is just the beginning of getting the rest of the kids in my small farming town to see the possibilities we have and the many problems we can solve or the new discoveries we can find. It's even important to the nations and the planets survival. In my search for the right college, I have learned that I will need an engineering program that is ABET accredited; and have been accepted into several colleges a scholarship will help pay my tuition, room and board required for the 1st year and lower my out of pocket cost. One day with my education behind me I'll be able to get the ROV to space exploring the other planets.