Before Everything Started
作者： Benjamin
When I was a kid, everything around me was full of fresh colors. Seeing the toys and appliances at home can have different actions after being plugged in, I developed a great curiosity about the inner principles of these items. One time, I accidentally drove a remote control car off the table, causing its front wheels to stop turning. Just as I was about to throw it away, the curiosity inside my heart drove me to find a screwdriver to disassemble the car. Looking at the precise gear set, winding wires and several circuit boards in the car, I instantly felt like I entered a dreamy mechanical world. Later, with the help of my father, I tried to remove each part and put it back into the car again, and finally carefully closed the lid of the car and connected the battery. Press the switch and push the control stick, the car moved forward smoothly again, making a familiar “buzzing” sound. At that moment, I not only felt the joy of hands-on creation, but also realized that engineering can give new life to seemingly scrapped objects, thus serving the little miracles of daily life. From then on, I had some strange and eager feelings about the concept of “engineering”, which kept running and accelerating in my heart. Since then, I have disassembled many toys and seen various mechanical structures. Why are the internal parts of toys designed like this? These seemingly ordinary designs made me clarify the concept of engineering and ignited the earliest engineering spark in my heart.
As I grew older, my curiosity about engineering has long since changed from the “assembly and disassembly” of childhood to a desire for systematic learning and creation. In this process of continuous exploration, I came into contact with some robotics competitions — working with like-minded classmates to continuously design and optimize the structure while writing corresponding programs to enable the robot to complete the task. I knew very well that this was what my ideal engineering would look like.
Engineering should be equal, inclusive and open, but there was one thing that made me feel regretful in junior high school: there were many people around me who were interested in engineering or robotics like me, but our school did not have a platform for these passionate students to realize their dreams. Therefore, after entering high school, I was determined to change this.
At this time, my attention was more focused on the VEX Robotics Competition. Therefore, since the 9th grade, I wanted to create a VEX team belonging to our school and realize my dream with my classmates. As for why I chose VEX as my goal? I don’t really know. Maybe it’s because it’s more famous. It’s this vague sense of goal that attracts me and fascinates me to a certain extent.
I wrote a not-so-sufficient “proposal” and before the start of high school, I confidently went to the principal of our school with this proposal to run an elective course. However, due to the excessive resources required for the course and the insufficient reasons and preparations for running the course, the principal rejected my proposal. This rejection was a big blow to me.
Although I was disappointed after being rejected, I was fortunately not discouraged. I began to try to improve my relevant abilities. I found my classmate Mr.Liu, and with the help of several off-campus teachers and a team that had a spot in the VEX Asia Finals, I experienced a VEX game for the first time. This was my first VEX competition in the true sense. I was exposed to various variables in the competition. The communication and cooperation with random teammates taught me a lot, and also made me more yearning for VEX competitions or robotics. Of course, this idea may also be because I did not have too many “utilitarian” ideas in my first game, and only regarded the game as a channel for communication and progress. The idea was pure at the time, but the future me is destined to be hit by the “impurity” of VEX games.
After this competition, I had a deeper understanding of VEX itself. The enthusiasm brought to me by the competition also made me more determined to establish the course.
During the summer vacation of 2024, I revised the elective course proposal 6 times, and urged the school principal to give me suggestions on the revision of the elective course proposal every night on WeChat. Finally, after about 2 weeks, perhaps moved by my persistence and sincerity, the principal approved my application to establish an elective course and provided sufficient funds for the purchase of competition props, equipment and teachers. Therefore, VEX elective course, as the first elective course established by students in our school and the first engineering elective course in our school, appeared in the vision of every engineering-loving student around me.
The course is established, and there will be more challenges waiting for us in the future. I hope I can continue on this path as long as I am full of hope.
Every time I disassembled parts from the robot and explored the circuit and program, I seemed to return to the moment when I disassembled and reassembled that toy car in my childhood. At that moment, the curiosity about the unknown and the passion for creation blended in my heart, guiding me in the direction of engineering. Today, my steps are not only to restore a toy car, but also to let more people and more ideas find their own North Star in my elective course. I always believe that the meaning of engineering is not just the cold mechanical operation, but also to give new life to those seemingly broken or unformed ideas, at the same time, create tools or instruments that can serve mankind. With this original intention, I am eager to continue to expand my skills and vision, so that countless “possibilities” can become “realities”.
