By her own admission, Megan Kobayashi was a bit of an introvert when she first got involved in robotics in the fifth grade.
But apprehension gave way to unfettered enthusiasm as the Punahou student immersed herself in the business of conceptualizing, designing and assembling her first robot as part of her school’s participation in the FIRST Robotics program.
Beyond the problem solving, which she adored, Kobayashi said she enjoyed the collaboration with others and FIRST’s emphasis on outreach.
“Something just clicked and I kept going,” said Kobayashi, now 16. “Through the program, I got more confidence in my abilities and I wanted to share that experience with other people.”
When she was in the eighth grade, Kobayashi held a robotics workshop for girls in kindergarten. As a ninth-grader, she helped to teach robotics to middle schoolers.
Indeed, however shy she may once have been, Kobayashi was never hesitant about pursuing the things that interested her.
Once, she and her mother were dining at a restaurant and she noticed two people at a nearby table communicating via sign language. Intrigued, Kobayashi began researching American Sign Language online and before long had taught herself how to sign.
That skill became especially valuable last year when the Punahou robotics team partnered with HOCO Robotics and Special Olympics Hawaii to establish a Unified Robotics program in Hawaii.
Kobayashi partnered with a young woman who is deaf and was able to use her signing skills to share her knowledge of robotics.
The experience convinced Kobayashi that students who are deaf could greatly benefit from robotics programs. And if those programs didn’t exist yet, well, she would do something about that.
On her own initiative, Kobayashi shot an email to the Hawaii School for the Deaf and Blind to pitch her idea. She was mildly surprised to receive a positive reply in less than 24 hours.
In the months since, Kobayashi has worked closely with HSDB instructors Tom Graham and Joshua Smith to get the program off the ground.
Kobayashi visits the campus twice a week to provide instruction to the HSDB team’s six members. She is sometimes joined by fellow Punahou Robotics members Cole Nagata and Devin Hartzel, who provide supplemental instruction in coding and mechanics.
“I am so happy to see their faces light up every time they learn something new and I am in awe of the way they interact with each other with sincere kindness and care,” Kobayashi said of the HSDB club members.
“I enjoy teaching because it’s really an exchange,” she says. “They teach me a lot about their culture. I learn a lot about myself and about life in general.”
From their first sessions together in which participants learned to construct functioning robots from the chassis up to their current preparations for statewide competition against students in the hearing community, the team has made surprisingly fast progress.
Kobayashi credits her mother, Danette, with instilling in her the confidence and desire to pursue her interests and to lift others in the process.
“My mother has given me a lot of guidance in my life,” Kobayashi said. “She and I really believe in the saying by (Mahatma) Gandhi, ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world.’ This has helped me to seize opportunities to create things that I want to see in the world.
“I learn when I give.”
Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@staradvertiser.com.
