The very first time it was weird, one blue fish in the swarm of buzzing yellow ones. Or in this case a giant group of boys surrounded by one female voice, a voice that was determined to make a difference.

“I was scared going in, I thought that I wasn’t going to be taken seriously, but the boys have always treated me no differently than any other team member,” says Lee. “And I’m proud of them for that.” 

All newcomers within the club are trained by the team leads, which are the juniors. There were lots of new members on the electrical team last year, all of their curriculum was taught within the first semester. 

The learning and experience started for Phoenix as a child, as she often loved to build things and work with Legos. This lit the initial spark for her love of robotics, and her future as a leader in the field. 

It took a long time for her to feel confident enough to insert herself into a team situation, and describes Robotics as being a big self advocacy activity.  Amongst people who have strong opinions, to make yours heard can often be difficult. In order to be heard and recognized, you need to express your opinions.

During the 2017-18 school year the team captain as well as the electrical lead that year were females.

“Schools and communities are pushing females to be a part of the STEM world, and that is what’s making the field more co dominant,” she explains.

The female mentors and leaders on the team always made Phoenix feel involved, and one mentor especially. Mrs. Donna Bodeau is a science and engineering professor at the Colorado School of Mines. She works everyday to inspire young girls to try their hand at physics and STEM operations.

“A female perspective is important to advocate for things we need, and to give our opinions.” Phoenix says.

As of right now only 23 percent of all computer science graduates are women, according to an early 2016 study done by Georgia Tech University. 

“If you walk into a room where it’s only males and you feel unheard or dumb, it’s easy to convince yourself that maybe this isn’t the activity for you,” Phoenix says. “We are the minority in the STEM field and I think that slips people’s minds sometimes.” 

She feels like now after four years she is almost pushed to the forefront as a leader, in a room full of followers. Being a woman she is used as a promotion focus for the club, so younger female members can feel more empowered.

“Small things such as taking a computer science class can make all the difference in bringing up the 23% average,” she said.“I believe my experience will always be different than the experience of males on the team. I am a part of the minority, but I feel that my role is no different and my relationship to the team members is no different, simply because I’m a girl.”

Female mentors and leaders on the team have always made Phoenix personally feel like she belonged. She worked actively and fought to be heard, alongside the people who didn’t always want to listen. 

The most important part is to know that you are never alone in this, having strong role models and sticking to them will be what helps you to succeed. 

“Regis deserves credit, but so do the boys on the team who have never made me feel less able,” she says.

Many physical skills have been learned, but life skills too. This is the type of atmosphere where you’re going to have to learn to work with a lot of different people. Leadership skills were big, mentoring lots of new students was hard and scary, but it only makes you better. Most of all, Phoenix plans to take advantage of the new problem solving skills and self advocacy that she has gained over her four years on the team.

Phoenix can’t depict what her future holds at seventeen, but hopes it will include the teamwork and building processes that she has loved during her time at Regis Jesuit.

“This has been such a huge part of my life, I don’t see how it couldn’t be a part of my future.”