McKenzie Kil-A-Bytes
Interview with Michael Long
Michael Long has helped with our team since its conception in 2002. We thought we'd ask him how his involvement with FIRST began.
Q: How did you first become involved in FIRST?
A: "My parents and teachers had always told me that I should go into engineering because I was naturally gifted at math and physics. I trusted their advice but knew very little about what an engineer actually did. When I heard about this program my senior year and that I would get to work with local engineers, I jumped at the chance. That was in 1999 and from then I was completely hooked."
Q: What effect did FIRST have on your High School Career? And after that?
A: Through the advisement of the engineers from Rolls-Royce, my parents, and the help of the teacher for the team (who also happened to be the school to work counselor) I dropped my 'fun' senior classes and gained an internship in engineering for the last semester of my senior year.
I attended the Purdue School of Mechanical Engineering at IUPUI in the fall of 2000. I chose this school because I could still work with my high school FIRST team and work at Rolls-Royce as a Co-Op student (the scholarships I got through good grades and of course my involvement in FIRST, helped that decision a lot also).
Basically the combination of the schools FIRST program, the help of the engineers from Rolls-Royce, and the guidance of a couple of great parents, all opened the doors for me to end up in the position I am today. 5 Years later I am a manufacturing engineer here at Rolls-Royce in Indianapolis and have been working for them for over three years now in some form.
Q: What prompted you to help start the FIRST team here?
A: I knew what the program and the engineers had done for me in molding my career and I wanted to do the same for others. Perry already had a great team of engineers, so when I was asked if I wanted to help a rookie team I dove in head first. I had been told that no one learns more than the teacher and I found this to be an understatement. I had been in the FIRST program for 3 years and I felt like a rookie again. But this has been one of the best experiences of my life. I have made great friends and contacts and will continue on as long as my wife will let me (she’s very understanding).
Q: What advice do you have for people interested in starting a FIRST team?
- Prepare everyone around you that they will lose you for about 2 months a year.
- Be prepared to fail (Rome wasn’t built in 6 weeks)
- Know going in that once you start this you will never want to stop.
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