West Michigan by Gin

West Michigan 

The West Michigan competition had me wanting to go back and relive it all. The tears, the nervousness and the excitement most of all. The emotions that had gone through me, they had me on the edge of my seat. Field wise, I truly found it interesting to watch how intense and how thick the air had gotten around other teams when the matches began. 

I find taking close shots of the robots to be pretty neat. I enjoy paying attention to the details of them– how the teams designed them and how they function in general. When getting to take photos, I tend to bond with other teams. It allows me to have an open conversation with them and take time to get to know them as a person as well as their skills within the team. 

The sweetest part of robotics is connecting with others, and finding others like you within your community. West Michigan had me on the edge, though. Watching our robot, Artemis, get rammed by other robotics over again worried me, because after the Belleville competition, the metal bar on our robot bent. But in the long run with West Michigan, she stayed put together and in amazing condition. She held up during her matches, and excelled in her performance.

The matches we had were fantastic, better than what I expected. Our team was getting score after score, and only improving more and more after each match. Hearing our drive captain Tyler talk about it before, though my only concern is whether the team makes it to states or not. When 5th place rolled around, I found myself pretty happy, knowing we were going to states. But I didn’t expect what would happen next, when the alliance section came along. When we asked 6090 to partner with us, they denied us that offer. 

The teams who accepted us were 6121 and 3546. They were amazing alliance partners and nicest people I’ve ever met. We qualified for finalists, teaming up with them. We played hard to get with our robot. We went against the other teams during the playoffs. We didn’t win exactly, but in the end we got second place within our team which I found to be a win. 

Hearing the news of this made my eyes water, so happy to hear the news I hugged Ryan beside me and sobbed into his arms. Our team winning an award caused me to be in tears, the happiness I felt in that moment and the proudest of my team hit me. Watching my friends cheer, scream and try their best out there had paid off.

So, why don’t we give it one last call? 3….2….1…. LIGHTS! CAMERA! HOLLYWOOOOOD!!!!