Royals 7

 Being involved in various extracurriculars has given me many opportunities for leadership positions. However, the most important opportunity has to be being captain of my high school robotics team. This is most important to me because I am passionate about robotics. It has been one of the few things to constantly bring me joy since I was a child. When I was about 11, I was attending my brother’s competitions. He always saved us seats at the top of the stands to have a perfect view of the game, and it was entertaining seeing all the robots on the field with their drivers on the sideline with a look of determination. Then we were taken to the pit where all the repairs happen, seeing the students heartbroken and seeing the connection between man and machine. However, I didn’t understand where the connection came from. I finally learned when my brother started taking us to his practices, and I could see everything happening in front of me watching the students work together in the workshop. One person measuring, and others cutting or drilling. This inspired me to join the robotics team during my freshman year. 

 Later in my junior year, I was given the captain title. My responsibilities as captain include planning, designing, building, and testing our robot. At competition, I bring the robot to inspection, create a game plan with other teams, fix the robot as needed, represent the school if we make it to the leaderboard, and accept or decline alliance offers. Within the last year I have learned many valuable lessons and more about myself. 

 The first lesson I have learned is what a leader truly is. In my experience with captains in other extracurriculars, they usually obtain the captain title solely on the fact that they are the ones who are experts or more experienced at the topic. So when my robotics coach gave me the title of captain, I was shocked as I was not the most experienced or knowledgeable as five others were at the same level or higher than I was. In the past, I’ve had issues with the expert captains as they were often demeaning of others, forced their leadership, and had massive egos, often breaking the spirit of others and making it hard to unite our team. So naturally, when it came to making any decisions about our team, I hesitated and always asked for input from the rest of the team, as I didn’t want them to feel the same way I did about my old captains. They often told me their ideas and feelings, but when there would be opposing thoughts, they relied on me to lead them. 

 Out of insecurity, I was truthful with them and said I don’t believe I’m much of a leader as there is still so much left for me to learn. They told me it didn’t matter because out of everyone, I always presented myself as a confident but caring person, often giving out advice to my team members and always being someone they could look to provide constructive feedback. This is how I learned I am a great leader. With the feedback and reassurance my teammates gave me, I carried it to my other leadership positions, like giving a voice to our student body as class president. 

 I also learned that I wanted to give back to my community. Our robotics team has professional mentors who would stop in and guide us. The issue is that the visits are scarce and irregular, and when we’re stuck, we often have no one to turn to. I want to change that feeling for the next group of robotics kids. But to do that, I have to gain more knowledge, so I will be attending University of Missouri-Kansas City this fall for electrical and computer engineering, as this is where my passion and happiness lies. 

 Although there are several obstacles I have to overcome, like being a low-income, first-generation American college student. I have learned through my repeated failures and errors in robotics the importance of perseverance. The whole point of robotics is trying something, and if it doesn’t work go back to the drawing board and start again till you get it right. So I am overcoming these obstacles by thoroughly getting involved in organizations that will expose me to career opportunities and college-related events like 20/20 Leadership. 

 Advocating and pursuing my dreams is something new I have learned through robotics. Before joining robotics, I attended therapy to overcome the trauma related to my obstacles. Many people may think that these obstacles may not cause trauma, but they heavily made me feel isolated. Some specific events include when my father was arrested by ICE. Thankfully he was not deported, but the months my family spent worrying for our safety and financial situation as we were scraping money to afford a lawyer to fight the deportation left me feeling second class to the rest of America as these aren’t issues everyone faces. Through robotics, I was able to build my confidence and feel like I was equal to the rest of the world. 

 These experiences showed me how lucky I am to have been born in the US. Having my parents drive us to chase our educational dreams. However, as stated, my siblings and I are first-generation American college students, so due to the lack of knowledge, my family turned towards local community organizations like 20/20 leadership. I try to get the most out of our field trips, like our career, college, and trade expos, to get my foot in the door to potential opportunities that can help me achieve my dream.