“On the Nature of Code Red’s Members” - Perspectus #6

Aldous Huxley once wrote, “In books, the proportion of exceptional to commonplace people is very high; in reality, very low.” Mr. Huxley, I would like to respectfully disagree with this statement, even as I type I am surrounded by exceptionalism.

Commonplace means passable, commonplace is getting a ‘C’ on that research paper in history, commonplace is wrapping that broken part in duct tape, and hoping the problem goes away. The single greatest quality of Code Red Robotics is not the robot itself, the facilities we work in, or the materials we work with.  No, Code Red Robotics is exceptional in the fact that its members are able to transcend this commonplace status, to go above and beyond the ordinary.  The Code Red Robotics member is the student that masterfully balances sleep, robotics and still manages to excel academically. The Code Red member is the one who finds a broken part, and not only replaces the original, but improves upon it.

An average school week for a Code Red member contains not only over forty hours of school, but twenty hours of build. This is more hours than any school sponsored club, activity, or sport.  For these six weeks of build season, if paid New York State minimum wage, each student would earn $1218, combining for a total of $48,720. Yet day after day, week after week, these students return to E-16.  

What motivates the Code Red member? Some members participate because they view Code Red as a rewarding learning experience. As returning members have noted, the practical, hands-on experience gleaned during build season are much more rewarding later on in life than material learned in school. Others return to robotics for the team environment, and competitive nature.  It’s surely impossible to ascertain one specific reason for why everybody comes to robotics. However, nobody can deny one of the main attractions of Code Red; the exceptional people.

-Anonymous