Jacob Garrity- Junior
Were you involved in FLL in the past? If so, how was your experience?
I loved FLL. It taught me so much about programming and robotics, and I got to spend a lot of time with new people and make new friends.
What is your role within the team?
I am on the programming sub-team.
Why did you choose to do this role?
I have always had a love for programming, and I like trying to figure out the new languages.
Why did you join FTC?
I joined FTC to challenge myself and to meet new people.
Gabriella Gibson- Junior
Were you involved in FLL in the past? If so, how was your experience?
I was involved with FIRST Lego League for three years from 6th through 8th grade. I had an enjoyable experience, and my time with FLL is what inspired me to join our school's FTC team. In my final year of FLL, my team placed second in our regional tournament where we then advanced to an international competition in San Diego, where my team won an award for Core Values. FLL has taught me many lessons and I hope the same will be true for FTC.
What is your role within the team?
I am on the branding sub-team.
Why did you choose to do this role?
I liked the community outreach and branding aspects of FTC, so I chose to be on the management team so that I could help with the website, social media accounts, marketing, and team branding.
Why did you join FTC?
Whenever I heard about FTC, the idea of community outreach, marketing, and team branding resonated with me so I decided to try out for the team. My time with FLL also encouraged me to join FTC.
Curtis Haschak- Junior
Were you involved in FLL in the past? If so, how was your experience?
Yes, the experience was fun.
What is your role within the team?
I am on the programming sub-team.
Why did you choose to do this role?
It was what I could help out with the most.
Why did you join FTC?
I really like the idea behind FTC and I also wanted to challenge myself.
Corey Roberts- Junior
Were you involved in FLL in the past? If so, how was your experience?
Yes, I really enjoyed my experience in FLL including my trip to San Diego, CA because we won the local tournament.
What is your role within the team?
I am a part of the building sub-team.
Why did you choose to do this role?
I enjoy designing and building robots as well as engineering new parts and ideas.
Why did you join FTC?
I joined because I enjoyed FLL and wanted to do something similar. It is also a very good life experience that I will remember forever.
Andie McCulough- Sophomore
Were you involved in FLL in the past? If so, how was your experience?
Yes. I participated in FLL for all three years of middle school and I got the opportunity to travel to Arkansas for an international competition when I was in 8th grade. I enjoyed being apart of an FLL team and learning how to program and solve problems.
What is your role within the team?
I am on the branding sub-team.
Why did you choose to do this role?
I chose this role because I wanted to help develop the team's brand and presence in the community.
Why did you join FTC?
I joined FTC because I enjoyed being a part of FLL.
Zach Yingling- Sophomore
Were you involved in FLL in the past? If so, how was your experience?
No, I was not.
What is your role within the team?
I am one of the members of the programming sub-team.
Why did you choose to do this role?
I feel that I am much more capable of programming, compared to designing or branding.
Why did you join FTC?
As experimenting with computers and software is something I've always wanted to get good at, this is the golden opportunity to me.
Robert Lazer- Sophomore
Were you involved in FLL in the past? If so, how was your experience?
Yes, my experience with FLL was very positive. FLL helped enhance my skill sets, including working in a team and problem solving. I had a lot of fun doing FLL as well.
What is your role within the team?
My role within the team is programming.
Why did you choose to do this role?
I chose to help with the programming because I'm interested in becoming a software engineer, and being able to program is required for this career.
Why did you join FTC?
I joined FTC to gain experience to prepare for my future career, and this is a great opportunity for me. I had already participated in FLL, so I decided to try FTC.
Abbie George- Freshman
Were you involved in FLL in the past? If so, how was your experience?
I was not previously involved in FLL.
What is your role within the team?
I am on the building sub-team.
Why did you choose to do this role?
I chose this role because I wanted to help design the layout of the robot and design pieces of the robot.
Why did you join FTC?
I joined because I've been fascinated with robots since I can remember and FTC will help me with my future goals.
Abby Sheredy- Freshman
Were you involved in FLL in the past? If so, how was your experience?
I wasn't involved in FLL in the past.
What is your role within the team?
I am on the branding sub-team.
Why did you choose to do this role?
I chose this role because I enjoy building and designing things to meet a certain criteria.
Why did you join FTC?
I joined FTC because I thought it would be something that could be really fun and a good challenge.
Sydney Solnosky- Freshman
Were you involved in FLL in the past? If so, how was your experience?
I was not involved with FLL in the past.
What is your role within the team?
I am on the branding sub-team.
Why did you choose to do this role?
I chose this role because I am interested in creating websites and helping with social media.
Why did you join FTC?
I joined because I like doing robotics and I thought it would be good to try.
Cameron Emerson- Freshman
Were you involved in FLL in the past? If so, how was your experience?
Yes, my 8th grade year we went to the FIRST Worlds Championship in Detroit.
What is your role within the team?
I am on the branding sub-team.
Why did you choose to do this role?
I wanted to help create the team brand, including the website and clothing.
Why did you join FTC?
I wanted to try it out and see what it was about because I enjoyed FLL for the past 3 years.
Annaliese Niebauer- Freshman
Were you involved in FLL in the past? If so, how was your experience?
Yes, I found it to be really fun and beneficial.
What is your role within the team?
I am on the building sub-team.
Why did you choose to do this role?
I wanted to try building something functional that didn't already have instructions laid out, like Legos often do.
Why did you join FTC?
FLL was an awesome experience, but I aged out. I still wanted to participate in FIRST Robotics, and our school had recently created a team, so I applied.
Laila Ashurst- Freshman
Were you involved in FLL in the past? If so, how was your experience?
I was not involved with FTC.
What is your role within the team?
I am on the building sub-team.
Why did you choose to do this role?
I love looking at things from an architectural view and seeing how things are built and for what reason. I wanted a chance to experiment with different parts of the robot so we can find and build a design that can help the team win.
Why did you join FTC?
I joined because I wanted to get more into STEM related clubs and activities and have more opportunities to see if this is what I want to do in the future.
Cody Roberts- Freshman
Were you involved in FLL in the past? If so, how was your experience?
I have previously participated on FLL for 3 years. My team my second year advanced to Arkansas and my last year we advanced to worlds at Detroit.
What is your role within the team?
I am on the building sub-team.
Why did you choose to do this role?
I wanted to get experience in building and design.
Why did you join FTC?
I joined FTC because it is a good experience and will give me the experience I will need in the future.
Hunter McMullen
Were you involved in FLL in the past? If so, how was your experience?
Yes, two years ago, when our team was in seventh grade, we were able to go to Arkansas to compete at worlds as we had achieved third place at our local competition. Although we hadn't won anything, it was an unbelievable experience to see the best of the best there. Then last year we were able to make it to worlds in Detroit after placing first in our local competition. In Detroit we were able to talk to and meet so many people and companies that gave out a lot of scholarships for kids that did these kinds of things.
What is your role within the team?
I am on the building sub-team.
Why did you choose to do this role?
Ever since I have been around five or six years old, I have had interest in building. Building with Lego's is what really got me most interested at a young age with all the things you can do with a creative mind and ideas. As I grew older and found out what FLL was, and that I was able to join it a team, I was instantly interested. As my skills grew through being on an FLL team, and achieving 3rd place in 2017 - 2018, and 1st place in 2018 - 2019, I was ready to get into FTC is a lot more impressive and more expandable in terms of being able to build more advanced contraptions than Lego's would allow you to do.
Why did you join FTC?
Our experience in Detroit for FLL was what got me inspired to want to join FTC this year because not only were we able to see very advanced FLL teams, but we were able to see the best FRC and the best FTC teams as well. Being able to see how advanced some of those robots was what got me wanting to join an FTC team to build complex ideas similar to that of what we saw at the competition.
