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The Engineers of the Future

At the FIRST Robotics Competition, three all-female teams are helping to rewire a male-dominated profession.
By Sara Sugarman
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Team: The Fire-Breathing Rubber Duckies

Hometown: Portland, OR

Tesca Fitzgerald, age 12 (front row, far left): "I wasn't very interested in technology before, but FIRST has inspired me to become a computer software engineer. I already know four different computer programs. Last year I found a way to enable the robot to read and write text files."

Taytlyn Fitzgerald, age 14 (back row, far left): "When I was only one of two girls on a team, it was hard. I spent that entire year sitting on a radiator watching the boys program the robot. Our coach said, 'Boys are the surgeons and girls are the nurses: You hand the boys the pieces to build the robot.' I knew better."

 
From the May 2009 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine
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