Team 1718, The Fighting Pi, is a FIRST Robotics Competition team. We are based out of the Macomb Academy of Arts and Sciences in Armada, Michigan. This is our seventh year as a team and we started in the 2005-2006 season. Although we are a team from the Macomb Academy of Arts & Sciences, we meet at the Ford Engine Plant in Romeo during our build season. We have nearly tripled our team size since our first year. We currently are a team of about 30 students from four rival school districts: Richmond, Armada, New Haven and Memphis; many of the members on the team are freshmen. Each member has his/her own spot on the team and is placed into two separate business groups that they work in throughout build season; there are twelve of these groups.

FIRST has taught our members a variety of technical skills that apply to everyday life. We have learned the basics of machining, modeling, electronics, programming, teamwork, leadership, public relations, communication, business, and composition. FRC participation has taught us to set goals and how to manage a project from start to finish, comparable to experiences in the business world. In the past five years, eighteen out of twenty-one graduates went on to pursue engineering degrees.

Our team's determination and perseverance to spread FIRST should be mimicked. We have been dedicated to expanding FIRST in as widespread an area as possible since our rookie year. Since then, we have started a total of ten FIRST teams of all types (FRC, FLL and Jr. FLL). We have close relationships with our established teams; we offer them practice space where we build, engineering assistance, and any other type of assistance they made need. In doing so, all of the teams have been successful.

Due to FIRST's emphasis on community service, The Fighting Pi adopted a local road which is cleaned biannually. FIRST principles are conveyed and implemented through our school curriculum. Emphasis on FIRST's morals are found in our school's computer programming classes and direct elements of FRC games have been scaled down and used in a FLL robotics course for high school sophomores. Even the founding principles of our school revolve around the beliefs of FIRST.

The message of FIRST is spread through our team in our weekly newsletter sent to past and present sponsors, team members, alumni, and schools in the area. The newsletter entails robot and subgroup progress as well as information regarding all on-goings of FIRST. We also have a team website, www.fightingpi.org, which contains sponsor information and links, a calendar of upcoming events, a newsletter archive, a team history by year, pictures, district event details, and links to other FIRST teams.

Each year, our team holds meetings, parties, and barbeques that promote team unity outside of team building activities. It provides a great and united feeling amongst all team affiliates. Not only are students and teachers invited, mentors and sponsors are welcome too. Our supporters are collegially thanked both personally by sending a private letter expressing our team's gratitude and publicly using the weekly newsletter. If a sponsor wishes to see the robot in person, we willingly bring it to them.

Our team has attracted students from five neighboring schools, so the message of FIRST has spread rapidly throughout multiple communities. All of our members attend the same magnet school for half of the day. For the rest of the day, we are at our home schools. With our team comprised of members from so many different schools, we have taken the first steps to expand FIRST in our area. This diversity helped us to start multiple FLL teams as well as additional FRC teams and a Jr. FLL team.

Since our rookie year, our team has made great strides to expand its size and reach. We have grown from fifteen members from three school districts to a team of twenty-nine with five districts involved. Moreover, the number of girls on our team has expanded from three to ten. There has been an increase in excitement and eagerness of our team to spread the message of FIRST. Instead of dividing our school between morning and afternoon, the robotics team has brought them closer together.

"FIRST isn't about knowing." With the number of inexperienced members exceeding experienced members, this is our team's motto. As a young team, no outside experience is required. Our main focus is to educate newer students in the basics of tool use, team guidelines, and building components. So that new members gain experience with the build process, veteran members help them with side projects not directly related to the robot. Through this transition both new and returning members realized that FIRST incorporates "dedication and responsibility" while "bringing people together to work toward a common goal." FIRST "shows there are many ways to solve an engineering problem." FIRST opens society's eyes to science and technology which awakens them to the world of engineering. It takes fundamental ideas and transforms them in such a powerful way that they're steadfastly embedded in participant's minds. With all this change, we have to remember where we all started.

Our team's rookie year was 2006. We went to the Championships by winning the Rookie All-Star Award. Following that unbelievable experience, we've become serious, committed, and passionate about spreading the message of FIRST to the world. That year, Team 1718 consisted of only 15 members. In 2007, we grew to 20 students. We now have 29 members, with a core group of seniors. Over the years we've expanded from 3 to 10 girls.

FIRST impacts every member of our team in a new way each day. We've learned how to dismantle and reassemble a transmission, discovered how pneumatics work, uncovered programming breakthroughs and understand the basics of teamwork. Through these experiences our team members are provided with "the opportunity to apply science and technology in the real world." Team members welcome these life lessons with excitement and intrigue. It's only natural that we want to share this experience with others. Every time we meet there's a camera at hand. It's hard to rid our eyes of the colorful blurs from their flashes. These pictures are found in our team trailer, posted on YouTube, weekly newsletters, and our website.

Through the FIRST program, our team believes that anyone can turn Pro.