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 much--but 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 competition--and yet, against all odds . . . they won
But this is just the beginning for these four, whose story--which became a key inspiration to the DREAMers movement--will 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 country--even as the country tried to kick them out.
"Los inventores es una de esas historias raras que es dif cil soltar. Narrada de manera impecable, es hilarante y tambi n triste." --Chris Anderson, autor de The Long Tail En junio de 2004 el equipo de la preparatoria Carl Hayden, de Phoenix, sorprendi a todos los asistentes a la competencia anual de rob tica auspiciada por la nasa cuando result ganador en el evento. No era para menos, el equipo estaba conformado por cuatro adolescentes, cuyas circunstancias a todas luces los colocaban en una situaci n poco aventajada. Se trataba de hijos de inmigrantes ilegales, provenientes de una escuela p blica con recursos escasos para desarrollar un robot que resultara competitivo. O al menos eso parec a. Su ingenio, talento y perseverancia, adem s del apoyo de sus maestros, los hicieron merecedores a este galard n, por encima de equipos tan poderosos como el del mit, que cuenta con la mejor escuela de ingenier a del mundo. Los inventores retrata magistralmente la agridulce historia de estos muchachos y sus familias, y el verdadero esfuerzo que implica conquistar el sue o americano.
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