Paradox Team Info
Team 2102 Paradox Robotics was founded in 2006. The pioneer team members attended their first competition in 2007, the San Diego Regional. Team paradox welcomes any and all students at San Dieguito Academy to become memebrs of the team. The team consists of nearly 75 students, 20 mentors, loads of parents, and millions of fans. Our arms are always open to new members, new mentors, new sponsors, and new fans!
2011 Team Photo
2011 Team Organization
While the addition of the Outreach branch in the 2009-10 season helped to spread responsibility among team members and increase participation in mentoring FLL teams and other community-related activities, the team felt that there were still too few people carrying the main workload. So for the year 2011, Team 2102 decided to add the new Corporate branch in addition to Build, Marketing, and Outreach. The Corporate division manages calendars and other organizational tools for the team, writes grant and award applications, organizes the collection of travel expenses, and ensures smooth communication to everyone involved with the team.
Team History
A history of this team could be told many ways. For some it would be a matter of dates, names, the registration with FIRST. Others might begin with the team name and identity, the culture of who FIRST 2102 Team Paradox is, and how they came to be. 2102 Team Paradox has a flavor, an origin, a destiny... and as many ways of telling the story as members of the team.
In the 2006-2007 season, under the founding leadership of students Matt Golman and Asa Pucket, FIRST 2102 Team Paradox Robotics Club went to its first robotics competition, the FIRST Regional Competition in San Diego.
In the team's second year, they were joined by more students, and they had a better idea of what to expect at an FRC event. Robots and game play are only two components of FIRST Regional Competitions, and it was obvious that a marketing team as strong and spirited as the build team was going to be a vital component for FIRST 2102 Team Paradox to stand out in the crowd. 2008 introduced our signature bold, yellow shirts and beautiful Paradox mascot... the Parrot~Ox, to FRC San Diego, and FRC Los Angeles.
2009 was a spirited year for FIRST 2102 Team Paradox. No longer a rookie, or sophomore club, they were maturing and growing, as a team. The foundation was solidifying, and seniors who started with the team in its first year were working hard to prepare new members to take the helm. The team was not only a more capable team, but also more confident about their vision and ideals, strongly declaring their Passion FIRST, and their determination about the robotics club being a place for students to lead, learn, and excel through their own efforts. Supported by mentors, teachers, and parents, 2102 Team Paradox was a larger team, with every indication that they were on track to remain as viable and ambitious as ever. In red pants, and Paradox shirts, FIRST 2102 Team Paradox came to FRC San Diego with a robot that took them to the Quarterfinals, and the presence and enthusiasm to earn them the FRC San Diego Award for Team Spirit. This winning, spirited attitude came with them to FRC Phoenix. In Phoenix FIRST 2102 Team Paradox played all the way through the Finals. In The Blue Alliance video, you can clearly hear FIRST 2102 Team Paradox cheering their robot right down to the buzzer. The robot was successful, the team was successful, and they came home with a new Award for Team Spirit.
Inspired by a winning year, and determined not to lose the momentum and drive of the graduating class, FIRST 2102 Team Paradox entered the 2010 season with purpose and resolve. New members were immediately brought up to speed through a Tech Wheel... a systematic series of student led classes to impart technical skills, and prepare incoming club members for the build season and FRC. The marketing arm of FIRST 2102 Team Paradox recognized the growing necessity of managing budgets, increasing outreach in FLL, establishing and sustaining strong relationships with sponsors and the community, and also writing and preparing for FRC awards, such as Chairman's, and Woodie Flowers. In the metal shop, the experience of senior members was supported by a new generation of freshmen and sophomore students, who were already showing promising skills and dedication. The team had grown, again, and more than ever their work and gracious professionalism was inspiring ever more interest in engineering and robotics. At the launch of Breakaway, FIRST 2102 Team Paradox hosted rookies FIRST 3128: The Aluminum Narwhals from Canyon Crest Academy. In San Diego, FIRST 2102 Team Paradox cheered proudly when FIRST 3128 earned the Regional Rookie All-Star Award. As spirited as ever, FIRST 2102 Team Paradox was extremely proud to be awarded the San Diego Regional Award for Engineering Inspiration! Ahead was FRC Las Vegas, and now a first time opportunity to play at Championships in Atlanta, Georgia. Always determined to do their best, FIRST 2102 Team Paradox came to Las Vegas with new strategies and new parts. It was hard work and that same winning spirit that sent the team home with a third Regional Team Spirit Award.
Even with short notice and a tight budget, FIRST 2102 Team Paradox rallied. New parents, and dedicated volunteers working with student team members raised more funds, planned and organized, so that fifty students and families could be in Atlanta for the honor of playing Breakaway in the Championships. This new experience, and amazing opportunity was a rewarding, educational, and fun adventure; one that inspired and fueled greater plans for FIRST 2102 Team Paradox.
LogoMotion is the game of 2011, and FIRST 2102 Team Paradox is in motion. Outreach has gone international, sponsorships have increased, FLL students are arriving already eager to be Paradox. The new school year took off with Tech Wheel, and Marketing efforts have evolved from being one of two branches of the club, to being represented by an Outreach division, and a Corporate division. Now there are executives able to focus on more aspects of the business part of FIRST 2102 Team Paradox. Build can concentrate on design, manufacturing, building, and testing robots, knowing that at competition they are supported and prepared to play the game on the field. Sharing the workload between all divisions makes it possible for FIRST 2102 Team Paradox to do more for Team San Diego, like showing up at practice matches with a fully functioning field element, the mini-robot tower. Also, in the metal shop FIRST 2102 Team Paradox was able to continue their mentorship of FIRST 3128, by welding chassis parts, and offering rookie FIRST team from Torrey Pines help preparing for their first FRC. The larger team also makes it possible to participate in community activities, such as building a giant robotic arm to ride a float in the 2010 Encinitas Holiday Parade; an ambitious and successful collaboration between Marketing and Build.
As busy as they have been, FIRST 2102 Team Paradox designed, built, tested, and shipped not one, but two robots, with time to spare. And in San Diego, at the LogoMotion FRC, FIRST 2102 Team Paradox brought everything together for a Passion FIRST, spirited, gracious, professional, high scoring two days! In the stands were more parents, friends, teachers, mentors, and family than ever before... and the alumni showing was truly epic. It is a testament to the team and to the people participating in FIRST, that so many high school graduates are happy, eager to return to FIRST 2102 Team Paradox, not only to cheer, but to mentor, and encourage rookie members. On the field, the main robot played a straightforward, calculated game, scoring by hanging FIRST logo inner-tubes, and defending its alliance members. The mini-bot, designed to be deployed in the last ten seconds of every match, racing to the top of the ten foot pole, proved to be a big scorer. It was mini, but it scored big... the majority of points in the San Diego FRC. It seems Build, Marketing, Outreach, and Corporate are in motion for greatness. FIRST 2102 Team Paradox won its second San Diego Regional Engineering Inspiration Award. Looking ahead: FIRST 2102 Team will stand in the arena and play on the field in FRC Las Vegas! Then, on to St. Louis!