Boeing Meets Bearenstein
by Alivia W.
This Monday, February 15, Bear Metal went down the hill to Auburn to visit with Boeing employees, and to demonstrate our 2009 robot, "Bearenstein". Boeing is an Official Sponsor of Bear Metal, and the purpose of the visit was to stir the interest of Boeing employees in becoming mentors to FIRST teams in our area.
Sean, Fred, Abby, Victoria, Alana and Alivia, along with Mr. Overhauser (one of our mentors who's also a Boeing employee), represented Bear Metal. When we arrived, we were joined by Skunkworks (team 1983).
Representing FIRST was Boeing executive Andy Gebhart who introduced our teams. After the introductions, we showed off our robots. It was the middle of the day, so Boeing employees were coming to see us during their lunch hour. Our team showed some of them how to drive Bearenstein and shoot balls at their co-workers. Skunkworks also demonstrated their robot. All of us had a great time. Our two teams answered questions about our clubs, and we worked together to perform cool tricks and display the capabilities of the robots.
All this was hard work, but we enjoyed it. After two hours, it was time to get Bearenstein back home, where he has a hand in our development of this year's robot. It was a fun time and we think we achieved our goal. New teams are starting up everywhere and all need mentors. We hope our visit will inspire Boeing employees to get involved with a new FIRST team.