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Spare Parts
Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream | Joshua Davis
11 posts | 10 read | 9 to read
Four undocumented Mexican American students, two great teachers, one robot-building contest . . . and a major motion picture In 2004, four Latino teenagers arrived at the Marine Advanced Technology Education Robotics Competition at the University of California, Santa Barbara. They were born in Mexico but raised in Phoenix, Arizona, where they attended an underfunded public high school. No one had ever suggested to Oscar, Cristian, Luis, or Lorenzo that they might amount to muchbut two inspiring science teachers had convinced these impoverished, undocumented kids from the desert who had never even seen the ocean that they should try to build an underwater robot. And build a robot they did. Their robot wasn't pretty, especially compared to those of the competition. They were going up against some of the best collegiate engineers in the country, including a team from MIT backed by a $10,000 grant from ExxonMobil. The Phoenix teenagers had scraped together less than $1,000 and built their robot out of scavenged parts. This was never a level competitionand yet, against all odds . . . they won! But this is just the beginning for these four, whose storywhich became a key inspiration to the DREAMers movementwill go on to include first-generation college graduations, deportation, bean-picking in Mexico, and service in Afghanistan. Joshua Davis's Spare Parts is a story about overcoming insurmountable odds and four young men who proved they were among the most patriotic and talented Americans in this countryeven as the country tried to kick them out.
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MerlinTheSlightlyAwkward
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Pickpick

Wow. This discussed where the motion picture ends, and follows the stories of the lives after. What a ride through feelings, with some new custom combinations on the analysis feed. Life is messy.

The title takes on so many layers of meaning through these intertwined stories.

#spareparts #davis #joshuadavis #journalism #nonfiction #science #robots #robotics #immigration #immigrantstories

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writerlibrarian
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This is the tale of two routers. It's was the best of time, it was the worst of times.... short story my cute, lovely router that wouldn't reset to factory setting and connect to Litsy is now replaced by the old, ugly spare one, that I had put away because... ugly, who smart cookie did connect to the new DNS.

So waving hi to everyone. It's nice to be back. 👊🏻😀😁

DGRachel Yay!👏🏻👏🏻 6y
Pamwurtzler Yay!! 6y
LeahBergen 👋🏻👋🏻 6y
Andrew65 Yey! Who cares how ugly it is if it did the job of getting you back on Litsy. Go router. 🍾🍾🍾🍾 6y
Lcsmcat 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 6y
36 likes5 comments
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Bradleygirl
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I'm really loving this and can't believe it took me so long to start it. Finally began it in honor of this year's Maker Faire and it's awesome.
#nonfiction #diy #immigrantstories #robots

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BookInMyHands
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Pickpick

Forget the movie, it leaves out the most important parts.

This is the true story of four undocumented teens who battled in a national robotics competition against college students. It's also the story of what happened to these kids AFTER the national robotics competition.

This is a fantastic story, and if you are looking to better understand what life is like for undocumented youth, I think this a must read.

#notawhiteprotagonist

44 likes3 stack adds
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Floresj
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Pickpick

This book has many of the things to in a novel: underdogs, competition, engineering, and education. Teenagers, under guidance of their teachers, build an underwater rover and compete against MIT in a national competition. The hitch is that although brilliant, the teenagers are undocumented and this is heartbreaking. I loved the engineering and the kids' problem solving. I detest those that do not live by the creed,"Give me your tired, your poor.."

Notafraidofwords The movie is so good too! 8y
6 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Floresj
Pickpick

This book has many of the things to in a novel: underdogs, competition, engineering, and education. Teenagers, under guidance of their teachers, build an underwater rover and compete against MIT in a national competition. The hitch is that although brilliant, the teenagers are undocumented and this is heartbreaking. I loved the engineering and the kids' problem solving. I detest those that do not live by the creed,"Give me your tired, your poor.."

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Floresj
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Love this book so far!
Rovers are hard to build....love the pragmatic teacher to state his greatest fear: "don't finish last!"

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Floresj
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I've always loved this quote...and this book currently articulates why we are stronger with diversity❤️ and the risks people take to have a chance at opportunity.

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EmilyChristine
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Good book. Very eye opening regarding the immigrant situation in the southwest USA.

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EmilyChristine
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Love this last part.

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