When looking back at one's life, its only natural to reflect on the various experiences, accomplishments and risks taken over the duration of that time. Whether it be my participation in the boy scouts when I lived in the Caribbean island called Barbados, the trials and tribulations of freshman year in high school, being honored with the Who's Who Among American High School Students award, or walking home from school because the transit system had come to a halt, due to the attacks on the World Trade Center; the events in my life affected me and had strong impacts on me. However, the one significant experience that has had the most impact on me is participating in the U.S. FIRST Robotics team with my school's team.
The U.S. FIRST Robotics competition is a nationwide event in which high school students create a robot that will be used in a game, and the parts are provided by FIRST. This is the best experience in my life because during the duration of 3 months, I got a real-life taste of hands-on engineering. While reading is fundamental and powerful, studying a book can never hope to compare to actually putting the parts together with my teammates; which gave me experience that a study guide would never accomplish.
Also, just the very thought of me advancing towards my goal of becoming an engineer was great. Tragedies like the World Trade Center attacks make you appreciate the true things in life, instead of bickering over small things. Me having the chance to achieve my goals by participating on the Robotics team, while others don't have that same chance, made me appreciate the time spent on my Robotics team. And even though the World Trade Center attacks had an impact on me, the Robotics team experience had the most in my life so far. The reason is that even though we must always remember.
Those lost in that horrible experience, those attacks and my experience on the Robotics team show me that life must go on, and when it does, it will lead to great things.