As I walked around the VEX Robotics Championships, my eyes scanned the teams for the 1954Z Robotics team, our allies for the eighth round. A neon green sign displaying the team number we needed to find came into view and my best friend and unofficial team captain, both members of my robotics team, approached our allies for the next round. The team captain mumbled a few words back and forth with the other team captain and gave me and my friend no explanation of what she said when I asked her about what the other team captain said. This ignorance and disrespect our team captain had towards my best friend and me continued to escalate. Many times I would suggest improvements or ways of approaching a certain problem, but she continued to dismiss my ideas even though time and time again they were proved to be the more effective solution later on. I was shocked by her dismissive and disrespectful demeanor, and never confronted her about how I felt. I spent four days walking around the Exposition center, as if I was in a daze, under the bright, blinding white lights, pretending our team dynamics were superb. It was not till after the season that pangs of disappointment in my lackluster ability to stand up for myself started impacting me. Any experiences in which I had felt uncomfortable or disrespected after that situation, I confronted them or ignored them, depending on the severity, and moved on from that point.
I enjoyed reading your post. It was a great example about how we can learn from our mistakes and past situations. I thought your voice and word choice played a big part in your writing and it helped keep me engaged. I think that ending it with the statement about your decision to handle situations in a new way was great.
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