Senior Profile
Name: Sarah Boynton
Number of Years on the Team: 4
Why I Joined: I initially heard about Buzz from
Laura’s brother Alec. Her family would talk about
how the team provided Alec with experience in the
STEM field and how many friends he made from
the team. Knowing I was already interested in an
engineering career, I went to the Hartford Recycle
Rush competition with Laura and her parents to see
what it was like. Even though I didn’t understand
the game concept completely, I found the atmos-
phere intriguing so I applied for the team the fol-
lowing year.
Favorite Part of Buzz: The part of Buzz I most look forward to every year is competition sea-
son. Each competition further in the season reveals more and more creativity and innova-
tion of game strategy and robot design. When a concept is revealed to the audience, there is
always the awe whether it will work or not. Seeing a finished product made of what we think
is impossible or the unthinkable is definitely one of the most interesting aspects of the
FIRST Robotics program.
Most Memorable Moment of Buzz: My most memorable moment of Buzz is without a doubt
my first competition at WPI. I was already filled with adrenaline from the team-spirited en-
vironment, and our matches made it boil over. I found myself shivering and fidgeting with
angst with the mystery whether or not we would win. Everyone told me throughout the
weekend not to get my hopes up about winning the competition and with a finished rank of
28 before alliance selection, our team had little faith on moving on to eliminations. When
Rosie Robotics was choosing the their second alliance team, the scouting captain kept calling
random team numbers at least seven times until he finally picked our team. We went on to
compete in the second match of the finals after winning the first match, resulting in the un-
official score in our favor to win. We only had to wait for 10 minutes for the official scores
but it seemed like a billion years to us. When the official scores came up and we saw that we
had won, everyone on the team jumped up and down in excitement. On the way home on the
bus, we ended our weekend singing We Are the Champions at the top of our lungs, a feeling
I will always remember.
Future Plans: I plan to go to college and major in Biomedical Engineering in pursuit of a ca-
reer involving prosthetics. My current first choice school is Worcester Polytechnic Institute,
but I’m keeping an open mind to the other eleven colleges I’m applying to.
Issue 1: January 13, 2019
PAGE 6