Legion of Youth Powered by Boeing: FIRST Washington

Levi Marr (15)

"My family inspires me because they have pushed me to be more than my best."

Mya Edwards (14)

"My dreams and goals are to make it to state for high school basketball and become an architect or a mechanical engineer. I've been playing with Legos all my life and my favorite thing to do was build and design houses."

Sean Connor (16)

"First Washington has inspired me to get out and creatively overcome challenges that are both fun and difficult for the past few years. It's encouraged me to be more social in general and taught me to use my head more."

Luis Moreno (15)

"What I've always loved about technology is the impact technology has on people's lives like defibrillators, which save 522 lives every year. Even in everyday life technology is everywhere. People can do things that they couldn't have done without technology and having the opportunity to create technology and change peoples lives is pretty amazing."

Lauren DeBord (17)

"I am interested in how technology can be used to make medical equipment more effective and reliable. Although this is not my intended job field, I still find the ways that technology can be applied to medical science interesting."

Makkiah Elmore (17)

"There have been many obstacles I've had to overcome, but if I were to pick one, it would be that I have Asperger Syndrome (AD). Initially learning this was hard and I did know what to think of it. However, by 6th grade, I came to understand that the diagnosis wasn't for me, but was instead to help other people understand me. That turned out to be the real challenge. For years I hated saying I have AD because people would either pity me, think less of me, or think that I needed some great handicap, and I despised that. I've met other's with AD, but my sophomore year I met the person who would really help me accept it. They also had AD but were almost my opposite. I'm great at math and science, but struggle with history and English classes. They're a little slow with understanding math and science, but are so amazing at language and literature, they're currently working on a book series. I'm still not sure why, but meeting and learning this about them made me stop trying to ignore it in myself, and instead fully accept it as a part of me."

Carlos Trejo

Hunter Till (15)

"Practice the seven P's - Prior proper planning prevents pitifully poor performance"

Naomi Gorley (16)

"I am an FLL mentor, and I was the head speaker for my team last year. I met many young kids who were interested in robotics. I told all of them the same small story. I was sitting in sixth period in my sophomore year. Like always I was talking about robotics. A boy in my class shouted out "NERD!" at me. I yelled back at him "AND PROUD OF IT!" If you are a nerd, or anything else heavily interests you, be proud of it. Don't let others bring you down. Never let someone's judgment be the reason you don't follow your passion. Be proud of who you are."

Ethan Rugg (16)

"My autism limits my social skills and abilities, and I learned through Applied Behavior Analysis therapy as well as personal experiences within FIRST robotics to help overcome this obstacle."

Paiton Miller (16)

"FIRST has helped me become more responsible and confident. Being apart of robotics has helped me with my public speaking, writing, and communication skills."

Payton Frandsen (16)

"I think Robotics represents the future. Technology enhances my education and helps me to learn more easily."

Lauren Judd (16)

"When I moved into the Pacific Northwest I stumbled onto my school's robotics team. This was where I was introduced to the world of STEM, with fantastic opportunities for every student. A world with constant problem solving, finding solutions with skills taught professionals volunteering their time. A world where I meet all sorts of different people from all sorts of different places who share the same passions as me, all of who I learn from. Sharing this experience with everyone, facing the same challenges and finding different solutions, gave me confidence. FIRST led me to the person I am today, a leader to some, an engineer to others, and student always."

Cesar Romero (14)

"Stay on the right path and do not veer from your life plan, just as Will Smith said 'there's no reason to have a plan B because it distracts from plan A'"

Charlene Martin (16)

"My advice is to be yourself and be good at it. If you see yourself as a super kind, loving person who could leave an impact on someone through your kindness, then do it! If you see yourself as someone whose ideas may be helpful in the world, make sure your ideas are known! Whatever it is you want to do in your life, go ahead and do it! It doesn't matter who believes in you, believe in yourself and put in hard work, and you will do great things."

Chad Nivens (16)

"I want to go to college and become a Computer Engineer. I would like to work with future high school students in robotics."

Cosmo Jack

Kaya McGill (16)

"Follow your dreams no matter how high the hurdles you have to jump are."

Anna Moore (17)

"What interests me in technology is the infinite possibility it brings. Anything can be achieved with enough work and dedication, and that gives me comfort when I'm struggling or sad about the world because I know that thousands and thousands of people are have dedicated their life to improving the quality of life for others. I want to create new technology in my career, and I like the idea of doing it in the aerospace field because the creations there are tested and then eventually impact everyone. From smartphones to water filtration systems, someone in the aerospace field invented the technology that helped billions of people."

Carlos Romero (16)

"My advice to people who look up to me is to always smile, always be positive and to always help those in need. Helping someone or making someone laugh or smile, or giving them hope, allows for that person to realize that there is happiness and that there is hope for good in the world."

Colin Gideon (15)

"What interests me about technology is how it works by using a system of components, all relying on each other to complete a task. There is something so satisfying about seeing something you built come to life. It will help me follow my dreams by making up the technology necessary to complete the task."

Everado