la vida robot

MS 210 Tesai Ghany
804C March 3, 2014

In the story, “La Vida Robot”, by Davis, I meet four undocumented migrants from West Phoenix. Who would have ever thought these kids would join a robotics team. These four kids have a special position in the team which makes it a perfect team. Now, let’s meet these special students.
First there is Lorenzo Santillan. He is the master mechanic of the team. His family is in a very tough situation. Davis says, “His mother had been fired from her job as a hotel maid, and his father had trouble paying rent as a gardener. They were on the verge of eviction for nonpayment of rent.” The reason Lorenzo joined because he didn’t have much else to do after school, but roam the streets. He was failing, most of his classes and looked like he was about to fall asleep. When Lorenzo was growing up, he helped his brother and cousin rebuild car engines. Finally he was ready to build something of his own.
Next we meet Cristian Arcega. He lives in a 30-square-foot plywood shed attached to his parents’ trailer. Davis explains, “He liked it there. It was his own space. He was free to contemplate the acceleration of a raindrop as it leaves the clouds above him.” This gives Christian the trait of having a scientific brain. He is the brains on the team. He is one of the smartest 16-year-old in West Phoenix. He has the highest GPAs in the school district. At the first meeting, Christian says that they should use glass syntactic floatation foam.
In addition, the team adds Oscar Vasquez. He was a born leader. Since the ninth grade, he was planning on a career in the military. Since he was undocumented, he was ineligible to join the military and receive any scholarships from colleges. He knew how to motivate people. He made sure that all of his members were in the room and focused when he contacted experts to explain tough science concepts. Oscar helped his team raise a total of about eight hundred dollars.
Finally, there is Luis Aranda. He is the teams tether man. He is responsible for pickup and release of what would be a hundred pound robot. He also goes to hardware store to buy what the team needs. So you can see, this is a perfect team put together. They had all the skills a perfect team would need to win the competition against skilled college teams. They won first place in the competition leaving behind MIT.