ABOUT THE TEAM
Gears through the Years
FIRST FRC Team 2338 "Gear It Forward", from Oswego, Illinois, began in the fall of 2007. The team was created by a group of dedicated students and one willing sponsor (CAT) who wanted to form a Robotics Club in the Oswego Public School District.
During our first season (in 2008), at the Midwest Regional, our team won the Rookie All Star award. This allowed us to compete at the Nationals level in Atlanta, GA. We placed 14th in our division.
In 2009, we named our robot GLaDOS, after one of the main characters in one of the team's favorite video games (majority of us seem to LOVE video games). GLaDOS utilized a rotating turret shooter fed by a collector and Archimedes Screw. This was also the year that we won the safety award at the Chicago Regional and made it to finals at Regional level.
In 2010, we created Markletron 9001, which we named after one of our favorite mentors, Mark Anderson. This was the year that we also created "Andrea Standards" which is a term we use to describe a shop that is completely organized and cleaned, our ever present goal. This principle was created and named after Andrea Anderson, our other favorite mentor. This drastic change in our team's cleanliness and organization was made easier by the relocation of our team to Murphy Jr. High, a space granted to us by our wonderful Oswego 308 School District. Later in the year, while at competition we met another of our fellow CAT teams, only this team was all the way from Turkey!!! Some of our team members and alumni still keep in contact with them today. The 2010 season was also the year that we won our first spirit award at the Chicago Regional.
In 2011, our team constructed two robots, Mildred (our big bot) and Olga (our minibot). Dividing our team between the two robots was a new and difficult challenge that we had to face. We overcame this obstacle by rearranging our team structure and expanding across several methods of communication (Facebook, texting, and email). These changes have greatly expanded and strengthened our communication and teamwork, as well as our foothold in our surrounding community. We then went forward and won the spirit award at the Chicago Regional for the second year in a row.
This year, during the 2012 FRC season, we will be attending the Chicago Regional at the UIC Pavilion. We hope to attend a second regional, but are currently on several waiting lists. Surprisingly, our team has experienced growth in many of our smaller subgroups. Our team has gained several students that are ecstatic about our business/ outreach team. This group of students have expanded and advanced this essential part of our team by leaps and bounds. While the rest of the team eagerly waiting to aid them in any way possible. Gear It Forward has also experienced a growth in our CAD/ animation and programming teams. This will strengthen these previously smaller subgroups, and allow every student to get involved with the subject(s) they are interested in. Overall, our entire team, (including all students, mentors and community volunteers) cannot wait for build season. See you at competition!
LET'S GET READY TO REBOUND RUMBLE!
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Student Members of 2012
| STUDENT NAME | TEAM POSITION | YEARS ON TEAM |
| Ernesto A. | Mechanical | 1 |
| Derek A. | Mechanical Leader: Power Train | 4 |
| Samantha A. | Mechanical | 1 |
| Josh B. | Mechanical Leader: Components | 3 |
| Trevor B. | CAD | 1 |
| Max B. | Electrical | 1 |
| Grayson B. | Electrical | 1 |
| Alan C. | CAD Leader | 2 |
| Israel C. | Programming | 1 |
| Brian D. | Mechanical | 2 |
| Mitch F. | Business | 1 |
| George G. | Business Leader | 3 |
| Brittany G. | Safety/PIT Leader | 3 |
| Ryan H. | Programming Leader | 4 |
| D'Andre H. | Electrical | 1 |
| Alex K. | CAD | 1 |
| Kevin K. | Electrical Leader | 3 |
| Connor K. | CAD | 1 |
| Brandon K. | Mechanical | 1 |
| Jake L. | CAD | 1 |
| Carlos M. | Programming | 1 |
| Alan M. | Electrical/Programming Captain | 2 |
| Adam P. | Website Leader | 3 |
| Sailahari P. | Outreach Leader | 2 |
| Patrick R. | Programming | 1 |
| Jeremiah R. | Programming | 1 |
| Susan S. | Team Captain, Business Captain | 4 |
| Bailey S. | Mechanical | 2 |
| Kevin T. | Mechanical | 1 |
| Alex T. | Mechanical | 1 |
| Adam V. | Team Co-captain, Mechanical/CAD Captain | 3 |
| William W. | Programming | 1 |
| Melissa W. | Mechanical | 1 |
| Zachary W. | CAD | 1 |
| STUDENT TEAM TOTAL: | 34 | |
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Mentor/Volunteer Members of 2012
| MENTOR NAME | STATUS | YEARS ON TEAM |
| Andrea A. | CAT | Forever |
| Mark A. | CAT | Forever |
| Diane C. | Parent | 2 |
| Kenton C. | Parent | 2 |
| Dave C. | Teacher | 5 |
| Gina E. | Teacher | 5 |
| Joe G. | Parent | 3 |
| Mike H. | Parent | 3 |
| Pete H. | CAT | 5 |
| Alison H. | Parent | 3 |
| Karen K. | Parent | 3 |
| Wayne K. | Parent | 2 |
| Eric K. | Teacher | 1 |
| Barry M. | CAT | 5 |
| Rafal M. | CAT | 4 |
| Andrew S. | CAT | 3 |
| Pat T. | Community | 3 |
| Kim W. | Parent | 1 |
| Grant W. | Parent | 1 |
| MENTOR TOTAL: | 19 | |