My Participation In The Prince Of Wales

Robotics Team Essay, Research Paper

My Participation in the Prince of Wales Robotics Team

TOPIC 2. An experience or achievement that has had significant meaning in your

life ( You may discuss an obstacle that you have overcome )

The intellectual achievement that I feel is my most prominent academic

experience is participating, for the second consecutive year, in the Prince of

Wales Robotics Team. This was an opportunity to gain valuble insights into

designing and manufacturing electrical robots with fellow teammates and

professional engineers.

Firstly, in connection with my involvement in the Robotics Team, I was

able to learn the systematic ways of applying textbook material to realistic

problem solving. This was my greatest challenge. As a member of a core group, we

were able to devise a functional remote-controlled robot designed to achieve a

specific task under the constraints of time. As a consequence of team effort and

ingenuity, we ranked first in our province of British Columbia at the 1996

National Championships. Another aspect of my participation with this high school

club in problem solving was to acquire the neccessary funds in the construction

materials, competition fees as well as for personal expenses required for

traveling outside the province for competitions. Fund-raising was both stressful

and difficult due to the fact that corporate sponsors had limited resources and

could not finance to the extent that had been previously predicted. As time

progressed, the situation worsened simply because the district school board

received financial cuts due to the reduced provincial budget. The problem of

convincing sponsors outside of the norm became a task in itself. With this type

of experience, I am sure that I can organize a better fund-raising scheme as an

active member in future groups.

However, without any doubt to have a successful fund-raising campaign,

promotion is definitely necessary. The main reason for this is that if the

knowledge of about the team was other than “we need financial sponsors”, then

they could have been more comfortable and probably even willingful to donate

larger sums of money simply because they “could see” and trust where the money

was being spent. Hence, how to get people familiar about our Robotics Team

became critical. For instance, during last year’s promotion scheme, I performed

the usual marketing mix with our team. Such a mix consisted of distributing

invitations for a Robotics Cocktail Party, sending out business letters to

target corporations and finallly, voicing the team’s bulletin in the school

announcements. I believe the promotion of the team was not intensified

throughout the school year because it did not leave a lasting impression, or

sufficient information about the Robotics Competition itself to potential

sponsors and students. Therefore, the image of the “Prince of Wales Robotics

Team” could still not escape the stigma of “a team that does nothing but needs

money”. This could explain why it became extremely difficult when we actually

tried to obtain financial aid from our sponsors. Such a precious experience is

essential and recommended for any student who loves engineering because in the

real and cut-throat business world, most engineering projects require business

finances in order to be successfully achieved.

In conclusion, my participation in the Prince of Wales Robotics Team

helped me to gain valuble insights into designing and manufacturing electrical

robots with fellow teammates and professional engineers. In addition, I gained

some precious intellectural and business experience which I never encountered

before.