FIRST and Team 141

By Norma Lamotte

Norma Lamotte is a math teacher at West Ottawa High School and has served as the FIRST Robotics Coach since 2000. During her tenure with the FRC competition, she has involved students directly in the engineering process and has encouraged students to go out into the world, make a mark, and at the same time, remember to come back and serve others.

West Ottawa FIRST Robotics Team #141 has a 17-year history with the FRC program. Our school’s rookie year was 1995, back when nationals was a rather modest event, and the award we won that year was “Most Photogenic Robot.” Today’s glamour and lights and fanfare, though, pale in comparison to the real mission of FIRST. We are believers in the Dean Kamen philosophy that launched this program; namely, that there must be a culture change in our society that embraces the thrill and the practicality and the necessity that is the engineering process. As students realize that science, mathematics and technology are the drivers that propel our economy and our country’s dominance in advancement of the human race, they become part of the culture change that needs to occur. And as the culture changes, we will begin to value more intensely the role that good thinkers play in our future.

The sports motif serves us as a foundation for our game. The robot serves us as a centerpiece of engineering practice. The engineers and professionals who mentor our young people serve us as role models. The students serve as future contributors who value early on the role of one who gives back, the volunteer who serves others. But no matter the flashing lights and the distractions of the screaming crowds, our goal is fixed on our kids, NOT on our robot. Don’t get me wrong; we love the WOBOT, but what we’re building on our team isn’t a robot----we are building people. Our byline on our team stationery states proudly: “We build the WOBOT. We build the future.” Our focus is on people!

FIRST Robotics Competitions are a lively, active, thought-provoking, dynamic engineering environment. They give us a game to play. But, really, our team sticks to the ideal that Mr. Kamen espouses:

“In a culture, you get what you celebrate.”

That statement, from the first time I heard it, resonated with my belief system about the role of young people in our society. If we teach young people what and how to celebrate, we will change the culture, one person at a time. That is how change is made.

Move back in time to 1999:
It was a lonely afternoon for me; I was home alone with my daughter. My husband, Pat, was traveling on “business.” He called me one day and told me, “Take a personal day tomorrow and get down here to see this!” He was in Chicago at the Motorola Midwest Regional, mentoring his first FIRST team. I took my personal day, went down there, and saw the excitement and practical application of the things I was teaching in my classroom. I returned to my high school principal and said these life-altering words: “I want to coach the robotics team next year.” Happily for me, the then-acting coach was willing to step aside and allow me to take over. Terry VanderYacht was a great teacher who had retired from West Ottawa, and he had taken the team over so that the kids could continue work with a teacher from the school. Before him, our team had been coached by Mike Mamo, another great teacher in our district.  This was to be an exciting time for me.

Since the time I became involved with the team, I’ve always had one goal: to give every student on our team the most intensive, goal-pursuing, potential-maximizing experience possible to achieve the widest growth curve and positively impact their futures, both individually and collectively.

FIRST Robotics Team #141 doesn’t do it alone. Over the years, we’ve solidified partnerships in our own district, in our community, in our state, and across our country. In recent years, we’ve even watched as the world “shrank” before our eyes, sending out WOBOT students into countries around the world, taking our positive message of culture change across borders we initially never dreamed we’d cross. We’ve had a great impact, and, with all things worthy, sometimes seeing the results takes a little time. Our team has mentored students who have gone away to college and returned to our community and, indeed, even to our own sponsor’s companies. We’ve mentored kids who have gone on to college and started up great robotics teams, such as one of the teams at Purdue. We’ve mentored students who have given back willingly as they begin their careers, coming back to help our kids as they embark on this most exciting engineering journey.

Our team boasts about many things that we’ve accomplished. Underlying all our achievements is the success of developing a student-run, student-centered team. Our kids run meetings, our students operate on the field of play without an adult coach, our kids learn to speak to adults with confidence and informed intent, our kids take with them an array of skills that impact their careers in a positive way and pave the way for the true culture change we crave. We celebrate our successes, and this is the first step in reaching FIRST goals. We build the WOBOT. We build the future.

Quotes About FIRST

“FIRST changed my major.” –Kelly Walters (Alum, 5th year Mentor)

“FIRST is inspiring. It showed me what I am capable of doing, and what I can do in the future. FIRST taught me about teamwork, speaking, building…skill I’ll need.” –Allena Greiner (Student)

“FIRST has broadened my opportunities” –Drew Westerhof (Student)

“First gave me a love for working with mechanical engineering and steered me to where I am today.” –Mike Olson (Alum, 1st year Mentor)

“FIRST is the launching pad for the future careers of high schoolers to help better the world” –Cheryl Walters (8th year Mentor)