The last 30 seconds of the match start to tick off the clock. Down by 13 goals in the quarterfinals of the Pittsburgh Regional FIRST(r) Robotics Competition, the students on one of the local high school teams hold their collective breath. The team's mentor, an alumnus of the competition, knows it doesn't look good.
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an international robotics competition in which high school teams design and build robots to compete in regional matches. The top teams from each region are invited to the national competition, which this year will be held in Atlanta, Ga.
Ryan Cahoon, a team mentor, as well as a Carnegie Mellon sophomore engineering and computer science double major, competed in FIRST in high school, making it to the national competition twice. Like a retired professional baseball player who refuses to hang up his cleats, Cahoon was reluctant to put FIRST behind him. A FIRST volunteer coordinator pointed him toward McKeesport High School, located in a working-class suburb of Pittsburgh and in desperate need of a mentor. Soon, Cahoon was spending four nights a week helping the students design, program, and build a robot for the competition.
The buzzer sounds. Cahoon looks at the scoreboard. It's not even close. His team is heading home empty-handed-their road ending 700 miles short of Atlanta. As he and the students pack up, Cahoon can't help but wonder: what if...
What if the school enjoyed the corporate sponsorships and professional mentors that other schools from wealthier school districts enjoyed?
What if he hadn't pushed the team to try a more ambitious robot design this year, complete with multi-directional "mecanum" wheels?
What if he hadn't supported some of the students volunteering to help the officials set up the field the first day of the competition?
What if his team hadn't been collegial in lending out their tools and knowledge to some of the other teams-teams they ended up competing against?
Now, their robot sits motionless in defeat. It's quiet. There is an awards ceremony coming up, but not many of the McKeesport students are in the mood to stick around. Cahoon can't blame them.
But an event official spots them packing up. She suggests to Cahoon that the team stay. They do. Sure enough, the losing students receive the "Gracious Professionalism" award. It recognizes a team's commitment to the core principles of FIRST--a positive attitude, gen erosity, and empathy, among others. All 30 teammates, along with Cahoon, race to the stage to high-five the judges and hoist their trophy. Cahoon and the students are all smiles.
-Nicholas Ducassi (A'10)
