Tell us about yourself and how are you involved with FIRST?
I discovered FIRST a year ago, on the FRC season “Charged UP”. Since I was little I had been interested in STEM areas, and although as a child I could not continue much due to economic reasons, when I entered my second year of high school a friend (Beto) told me about a trip to regional Monterrey at the Tec de Monterrey Campus Monterrey with Imperator 5887. I was very interested, and I started going to the meetings and trainings, this was ONE week before the event (week 1 of competition). I didn’t even know what a chassis was, but I still decided to go into scouting, and thanks to a mentor (Dany), I learned everything I needed to be able to apply what I learned in the regional. We then competed in regional Puebla, where we hosted the event, and I had no doubt that I would never want to leave FIRST.
How has FIRST helped you accomplish your goals? 
FIRST not only helped me choose my university major and the path to what I want to dedicate myself to, but it has given me friends, family, and ineffable experiences. My main goals have been to go abroad, network with people from different places in the world and be able to create international relationships that allow me to gain experience, and thanks to FIRST and all the support of my parents and God, I managed to go to the FIRST Championship 2024, where I met people from many places, including Bill Bluethmann, coach of Robonauts 118, NASA team, also in Hermosillo regional I was able to meet Blair, and in Houston we were able to talk more. Both were guests on our team’s podcast “Beyond the robot”, but not only them, but many more people from Mexico who are taking over the entire world. So thanks to FIRST I have a second family, I have a passion and I have many more goals in the future to impact more people.
Do you recall any special experiences or challenges?
When talking about FIRST, there are millions of experiences, but if I could describe one specifically, it would be the experience of being a drivecoach for the Dynastia 23651 FTC team. This year (2024), Dynastia competed in its first regional events, CDMX Regional (Mexico City Regional) and Zapopan Regional. The same week as the first Dynastia competition, the team opened the doors to me, so much so that they allowed me to show them my scouting knowledge, they gave me this opportunity to guide them not only in scouting and strategy, but in being gracious professional people and applying the FIRST core values in their daily lives. They allowed me to impact their lives. As rookies, we won CDMX regional, Zapopan regional and the Off-Season Hyper Hurdle organized by Hype Birds in August 2024. Without a doubt, being a mentor, drivecoach and team administrator has been the most beautiful experience of my journey in FIRST, and not I would change it for nothing.
Why do you think FIRST is important for females?
It is very important that girls can get more involved in STEM, that they feel the freedom of being engineers without feeling that gender gap, they can broaden the current perspective of things and reach deeper discoveries. FIRST is important for girls, because in addition to each one discovering their passion and being able to learn about STEM without judgment, girls make this decision which is a step to discover their autonomy, enhance their empowerment, step by step we achieve more inclusion, social justice, and equity. We, the girls of today in FIRST and STEM, have a job: to be inspiring, to be leaders, and above all, to empower feminine power and be a figure to follow for all the girls of the next generations.
What are your goals for the future?
Being part of FIRST, having had the opportunity to be a student and now being a mentor to students, my goals are not only to stay there, mentoring, but to bring STEM to more communities both in Mexico and in the world, providing free STEM education to those communities that do not have easy access to learn these topics, also, in the future I would like to create a foundation where scholarships can be awarded so that our future engineers can get involved in space programs, technological programs and many other programs. I also focus on being a mentor for various teams (be it FLL, FTC or FRC) and being able to impact and bring knowledge to everyone in different parts of our world.
What advice would you give to the younger generation of girls interested in STEAM fields?
Follow your dreams, don’t let anything or anyone take away your passion. Fight every second, do things even if you are afraid, because by overcoming fear you can overcome any challenge. Ask for help, if you don’t know how to start, what activities to do or how to learn more, ask your teachers, search the internet, get informed, because knowledge is the best weapon for changes in the world.
Do you have a woman you look up to/is your role model? If so, who is it and why?
Chieko Asakawa. She is a prominent computer scientist and researcher at the IBM company who has constantly contributed to the areas of science and technology, fighting every day for inclusion in STEM fields for people with both physical and mental disabilities, because even though she is a blind person, Chieko remains enthusiastic and contributes her knowledge to STEM. Chieko is an exemplary woman, because thanks to her we have multiple contributions in various museums and global research centers, especially in the National Museum of Emerging Sciences and Innovation (Miraikan) in Tokyo. Just like Chieko Asakawa, each of us can contribute something of great value to society, but not before remembering that there must be a purpose in you
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