In the thousands of incoming freshman that will invade campus next semester, a few students will bring their unique experiences from the spotlight to the sea of faces migrating down Palm Walk.
If you haven't heard of the Falcon Robotics Team from Carl Hayden High School in Phoenix, they have gained national notoriety for their success in competitions across the country; namely, when their robot and robotics team challenged a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and won.
Even more impressive is the fact that many of the team's members are not legal citizens of this country. Several of the students from this year's team will be attending ASU in the fall.
Before Carl Hayden High School had a robotics team, they were better known for their high crime rates than their academic achievement.
The success of the team has brought them to the cover of Wired magazine, features on Nightline, National Public Radio, CNN, and a plethora of local news reports in only the most positive light.
This is a vastly different image of the school than previous years.
"We would get picked on, day after day, and our kids believed it," said mentor and coach to the team, Allan Cameron.
Cameron has been working with students at Carl Hayden High School for decades and sees how the culture of the crime-ridden, poor neighborhood is morphing into this incredibly intelligent underdog. Regardless of how far they have come, social and class relationships are still tense, and there is a long way to go.
Meanwhile, these students are extending their involvement in school activities to include issues impacting their community.
"Before I was on the robotics team, I would never watch the news or read the newspaper," said Cynthia Botello, a senior member of the team who plans to attend ASU in the fall. She said that her team coaches, Cameron and teacher Fredi Lajvardi would often bring up current events in team meetings.
" I got more aware of things; I got connected," said Botello.
The connection to immigration issues spurred the students to organize a march in conjunction with the 100,000-person strong spectacle organized by Somos America that nearly shut down the city last spring.
When Botello first arrived at Carl Hayden as a freshman, she was intimidated of the rumors she heard about the school from her friends.
"They would tell me, 'You shouldn't go there, there are always fights and drive-by's.' I was kind of scared," she said.
In the last several years that the robotics team has been gaining momentum and recognition, it has had a drastic effect on the school itself.
"A lot of kids are getting good grades and getting involved. They are becoming leaders in our communities," she said.
Political activism has been their main concern lately, namely immigration issues and the passage of the DREAM Act. DREAM stands for the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, and is an integral part of these students' futures. It is a hotly debated bipartisan bill that would provide a system of citizenship for the integration of law-abiding, school-going children of illegal immigrants.
By the time Botello and her fellow students get to ASU, they will have accomplished much more than the average incoming freshman. But, that is where the future starts to get interesting.
Reach the reporter at: bettina.hansen@asu.edu.
