Dean's List Highlight: Andrew Dornbier

We asked Andrew Dornbier, a 2016 FIRSTTech Challenge Dean’s List Award Winner from Garner, Iowa, “What does inclusion and equity mean to you, and how has FIRSThelped show your identity and relate to others more positively?” We're happy to share his awesome response with our community!

FIRST has defined me as who I am today. I started with FIRST when I was in 4^thgrade on our 4-H county’s first ever FIRSTLego League team.  My FIRST Lego League team was more than just playing with Legos. I couldn’t wait until the end of August when the mission pieces would come with a huge book of instructions and wondering what my team was going to build and program. My FIRSTLego League team did team building exercises every time we met. My coach was competitive and wanted us to do well on the robot but she always said that the score on the robot meant nothing unless we demonstrated Gracious Professionalism no matter how good or bad we did at the table. FIRST has core values that teach life lessons.  When I am asked what inclusion means to me, it is the core values I’ve learned in FIRSTwith competitions and team building exercises. Those exercises taught us how to include and accept everyone while working as a team to build and program a robot.  The team learned how to work together by pulling out each person’s strong attributes and compensating for each other when someone fell short in being a team player.    

FIRST has taught me that not everything works the first time and not to give up.  After I graduated from FIRST Lego League I wanted to continue my FIRST experience. I approached my school board about starting an FIRST Tech Challenge team and they declined that offer due to our school merging with another school. I then went to our 4-H and asked them if they were willing to be the organization to sponsor our new FIRST Tech Challenge team. I went around to local businesses in our town looking for sponsorships and coaches. I found an engineer to mentor our team, and the location for our team to meet - my grandma’s basement. I was the only kid in my area that had aged out of FIRST Lego League so I needed to find members by getting other kids (who knew nothing about FIRST) interested in joining this new FIRST Tech Challenge team. I focused on kids that liked to be in vocational shop classes for the building of the robot and kids that took all the computer and technology classes for the programming of the robot. Our team was then composed of members from different sections of the school. Some of the members of our team were kids that went to school together for 11 years and would have never thought of becoming friends until FIRST Tech Challenge. It was remarkable to see this rookie team with kids that live two different paths come together and make it to the state championship in Iowa.

  

FIRST is far more than connecting with just your team. Through my 3 years with FIRSTTech Challenge I have made several friends and have had far more experiences than I would have ever imagined having. In Iowa, FIRST Tech Challenge has league tournaments. Through these leagues I have made friends from across the state with the same passion. When we go to competitions teams come together and go out for pizza, swim in the hotel pool, and share ideas, goals, successes, and tribulations. We are great friends off the competition playing field, but we always want each other to be the best that we can be even when we are competing against each other. One time at our league championship in our championship match (that would determine if we move onto the state championship) we were going against our greatest competitors. This team lives two hours away from us but through FIRST Tech Challenge we had become very close teams and knew each other’s strength and weaknesses.  Five minutes before we were supposed to go out and compete our opponent’s on/off switch quit working. My team loaned them our extra on/off switch so they could compete. After three matches our team won by slim margins. We cannot be at our best unless our opponent is at their best.

This past year I experienced firsthand how FIRSTcan bring together two competing manufacturing companies. With the outreach that is encouraged and necessary to be successful with FIRST, I extended an invitation for two competing crane making companies in our town. FIRST Tech Challenge was the first program to ever bring these companies together to help mentor our FIRST Tech Challenge team. Bringing these two companies together definitely shows how FIRST can bring not only our team, but our community together.

FIRST is wild on social media. I follow 1,500 teams and have 793 followers. We have connected with teams from all over the globe just by just tweeting the issues we are having. Teams are always willing to lend a helping hand. Social media brings all FIRST Tech Challenge teams together into one community no matter where you are located at on the globe.

The mission statement of FIRST is so true, "FIRST^® is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting Mentor-based programs that build science, engineering, and technology skills, that encourage innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership".

FIRST lives up to their mission statement and it is through FIRST that I have found who I am. I have not fit into the realm of kids that play sports.  The FIRSTprogram has been there for me to build my confidence, let me feel like I’m part of a team, and be the leader and role model that young kids can look up to. Being part of the FIRST program is like being part of a family. It builds kids up and teaches them core values, and how to work as a team.  It is because of FIRST that I have found who I am. I will be completing in my final year as a kid on the team but I guarantee that FIRST has not seen the last of me. With everything that FIRST has given me I plan to give back to FIRST in any way I can and will continue to mentor and be a part of the FIRST family. I encourage everyone who has an interest in STEAM to join in on this amazing program because it does inspire recognition in Science and Technology. 

For more information on FIRST Tech Challenge Dean's List, please visit our website!