Message from Ponytail Posse, an all-girls Robotics Team - FIRST® LEGO® League

From my In Box...
From: FIRST Tech Challenge
To: markgura
Subject: Mark, here’s Rose’s FIRST story

"We don’t build robots – the robots build us.” - FIRST founder Dean Kamen

FIRST^® programs impact hundreds of thousands of students each year by engaging them in hands-on, project-based STEM challenges. We’re excited to share Rose’s experience with you!

The following is an excerpt from the team blog for the Ponytail Posse, an all-girls FIRST^® LEGO^® League team that progressed to FIRST^® Tech Challenge from St. Paul, Minnesota. Rose explains the massive head start she and her teammates received from their years in FIRST, beginning as a FIRST LEGO League team. 

"People are usually able to understand the depth of how participating in robotics affects lives. They understand that it helps us gain experiences which help us become better engineers, problem solvers, and collaborators. But while they understand the depth, these people often fail to recognize the breadth of how being part of a robotics team can shape a young person. It’s not just a path toward a successful STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) career, but a gateway to self-expression, confidence, critical thinking, and empathy.

But as we got older, we began to realize how our robotics experiences were influencing how we thought about the future. We could see ourselves going to college and starting a career in engineering, entrepreneurship, and other fields we had never considered before. These were tangible destinations that we had already been pursuing for years without realizing it — in other words, we were giving ourselves a massive head start...."


Read the full post at: The team's blog

Click on book cover for information

Getting Started with LEGO Robotics. Anyone who works with kids can do LEGO Robotics, a rich and highly motivating platform for important STEM Learning! (surprisingly affordable, too) This books explains it all!