These are stories from FIRST Alumni about how friendships with people from other teams has affected their lives.
​FIRST Friends wants to help people write more stories like these. 
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 She is one of my best friends and this is really the first time I have ever had a best friend that shared my love for everything robots and the MN teams. 
KATIE RIEDEL & LAURA IRVINE 
By: Katie 
(FIRST Alunmna of FTC 8686 Height Differential &
GO FIRST Vice President) 

​Before we met, we both decided to go to the U of M early during our senior year of high school. During the spring, we got in contact through Facebook and decided to meet to talk about potentially being roommates. We first really got to talk and know each other during a three hour Panera visit.

​After that, she volunteered at World 2016 and came to cheer me and my team on, inspected the HD robot actually, and hung out with us. While we weren't roommates our freshman year of college, we were neighbors in the same building and we actually will share our own apartment for this coming school year. I think Laura and I volunteered for at least 6 or 7 FTC tournaments together (not counting ones we did separately) last year, telling jokes to teams while waiting on the field, having a blast.

We spent many, many nights eating ice cream in the dorm dining halls, talking about robots, watching robot reveal videos, and hanging out at GOFIRST. She is one of my best friends and this is really the first time I have ever had a best friend that shared my love for everything robots and the MN teams. Our friendship has given me that along with an extremely fun and rewarding experience as an alumni, mentor, and volunteer.
This connection is rooted in our love for the ideals of FIRST. A friendship that started as two people who liked gossiping about robots grew into a life-long bond.
RACHEL HUNTER & SARAH FOGWELL 
By: Rachel 
(FIRST Alumna of FTC 5972 Patronum Bots &
​Founder of FIRST Ladies) 

Sarah Fogwell is one of those people in FIRST that you know, even if you don't know her. She's easy to recognize as just one of those people who are just at every single event, and you can tell she's a good person even if you've never introduced yourself to her. Summer 2014, she sent me a Facebook message, and I couldn't believe it. From that very first conversation, we became instant best friends. I had somehow found the other half of myself 819 miles away in Pennsylvania. 

It feels like I have known Sarah my entire life, and despite being able to count the number of times I've seen her in person on one hand, she knows me better than I know myself. This connection is rooted in our love for the ideals of FIRST. A friendship that started as two people who liked gossiping about robots grew into a life-long bond. Sarah has been there through the best and worst times of my life, all the while being across the country.

In May of 2017, Sarah told me that she had officially accepted her admission offer at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, the university I currently attend. I am so excited to finally live right next door to my best friend, and be able to see her in person every single day. Without FIRST, I would have never been able to meet her and for that I am forever grateful.
I just moved out of state, so the majority of my friends are long distance, but having this network of robotics friends makes me feel so at home everywhere I go.
COLLEEN JOHNSON & FIRST GLOBAL 
By: Colleen 
(FIRST Alumna of FTC 3595 Schrodinger's Hat) 
​
​FIRST Global was amazing for a lot of reasons, one of them being the long-distance collaboration!  There were group chats with people from all around the world for months leading up to the competition, and when we all met at the airport for the first time it was like meeting a group of close friends! The online collaboration leading up the the tournament made it that much better, and it was amazing getting to know so many people. On top of that, team USA was a long distance team!  We were from different coasts! I met people that I know I'm going to be friends with for the rest of my life! 

My team used to be based out of Alaska, which doesn't have a lot of teams, and the teams that are there are very spread out geographically. So my team did a lot of online collaboration with teams all over the world. Staying connected like that really helped us feel throughout the season, and also allowed us to give back to other teams!  We were able to discuss strategy, brainstorm disconnection issues, talk outreach ideas, and much more.And then when we got to meet these teams at competitions it was amazing!

I just moved out of state, so the majority of my friends are long distance, but having this network of robotics friends makes me feel so at home everywhere I go. I know that wherever I travel, I can at least crash on someone's couch! 
....friendships I have formed through FIRST are without a doubt the most valuable relationships anyone could ask for in their lifetime. 
​BO RUSSEL & FRIENDS
By: Bo
​(FIRST Alumnus of FTC 5037 Got Robot &
​Roving Mentor for Illinois FIRST) 

I find that the friendships I have formed through FIRST are without a doubt the most valuable relationships anyone could ask for in their lifetime. I remember one day waking up at 4:15AM and driving eight hours across two time zones to attend a seven hour offseason scrimmage event without a single regret.

That’s just the kind of insane things we FIRSTers do to just to hang out and see each other. It’s such a great feeling to have friends from all around the world who I can learn from and share all my fun, crazy ideas with and are willing to help out whenever I’m in need of some extra brain power.

Having an open, like-minded community of STEM enthusiasts who are just as passionate about FIRST as I am is very important to me and definitely played a huge role in my personal connection with the program as a whole.
I can say without a doubt that I have met many incredibly unique, passionate, and amazing people.... 
JOSH YUE & FRIENDS 
By: Josh 
​(FIRST Alumnus of FTC 7172 Technical Difficulties) 

So while I haven't been able to keep in touch with most of the other members of the other teams, I can say without a doubt that I have met many incredibly unique, passionate, and amazing people through FTC! From exchanging pins and buttons to learning about each other's creative processes, these experiences with other FTCers have allowed me to see the process in a different light! Every team approaches the challenge with a different perspective, and its really awesome learning from each other.

That's what coopertition is all about!
.... and hopefully making the new FIRST members feel welcomed and giving them the experience and friendship I felt during my years in the program.
MADISON HICKMAN & FRIENDS 
By: Madison 
(FIRST Alumna of FRC 233 The Pink Team & FRC 1592 the Bionic Tigers)

Even though I am officially an alum now of the FIRST programs, I still have a few friends younger than me who are still involved in the programs. I did FIRST Team 233 for three years and switched to Team 1592 in my senior year.

Along the way I met a few friends and we met up each year at both off season and competition events. One year at an off season called Panther Prowl, I made friends with a member of 1902 Exploding Bacon, named Jordan. She lives too far away for us to hang out, but we often message online and every year now we see one another at the Orlando Regional Competition 
or off season events that both our teams attend. She began the team in middle school and will be entering into her 9th grade year this 2018 season but I am still glad we met one another and she's very friendly and very smart and mature for her age. I hope to see her do well as the years and seasons go by and she continues on her FIRST journey.

I wouldn't say I have a ton of CLOSE friends from the FIRST program, but its certainly given me a lot of long distance friends to message online and occasionally video call and reunite at events once or so a year. Over the years, I've tried to make as many friends as possible, and wandering the pits at the Orlando Regional event now I'm often fairly well recognized and I think everybody should have the chance to feel like they are surrounded by family at every event. As an alum now, I will be spending my events volunteering and hopefully making the new FIRST members feel welcomed and giving them the experience and friendship I felt during my years in the program.
We listen to one another and try to ‘be there’ when the others need advice, comfort, or just a good laugh.
OSCAR FONSECA & ROBO-SQUAD 
(Lindsay, James, & Sophia) 
By: Oscar 
(FIRST Alumni of FRC 2283 Panteras & National Instruments Engineer) ​

It all started at ChiefDelphi when James asked me for a t-shirt trade at the 2014 FIRST Championship. Over the next months, Sophia and Lindsay would jump in the conversation at Twitter. Being almost 2,000 miles away, we exchanged ideas and messages by the social platform about what was going on with our lives.
It wasn’t until the 2016 Championship that we all had the chance to meet all four of us in person, and has been the only one so far. We have interests in common, we now have each other team’s t-shirts, and, most importantly, we support each other. We listen to one another and try to ‘be there’ when the others need advice, comfort, or just a good laugh.
​
FIRST in definitely not about the robots, sometimes not even technology itself. It’s about life. Your life. The lives of others around you. FIRST brings us together, shows us similarities with people all around the world, and builds alliances that go way beyond a robotics competition. Thank you, FIRST!
They introduced me to the many people who inspired them, and the people they inspired, I then spent the rest of college learning by Danny and Renee’s example, much about mentorship, leadership, but most of all, how passion is contagious.
NICK HAMMES & DANNY BLAU &
RENEE BECKER-BLAU
By: Nick
(Team 254 Mentor, former GOFIRST President)

I’ve made so many great friends in the FIRST community, which all started my first semester of college back in 2010, when I attended a meeting of GOFIRST on the advice of a classmate who knew they were looking for a programmer for an aerial robotics competition they were trying to get going. Quickly swept up in excitement, I soon attended my first Kickoff, and Danny and Renee then convinced me to attend the FIRST Championship, where they also introduced me to so many incredible people.

The following year, I ended up living in the tiny room tucked above their staircase, coming down often to the living room to do homework, watch Doctor Who, hang out, or hear great roboting stories. They introduced me to the many people who inspired them, and the people they inspired, I then spent the rest of college learning by Danny and Renee’s example, much about mentorship, leadership, but most of all, how passion is contagious.

After college, they ended up moving to Indiana for work, and I to California, so we don’t get to hang out nearly as often, at most twice a year. But when we do, it’s wonderful to pick things back up where we left off, reminisce, hang out, and tell the incredible stories and friends we’ve made in the last year.
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