Smithtown East High School senior Abby Brennan joined the robotics team in her freshman year to try something completely new. After being handed a piece of wood at her first meeting and told to get to work, Brennan quickly fell in love with the art of building a robot.
“I loved it so much,” she said. “Getting to work with your hands and coming up with solutions on the spot was amazing.”
Four years later, Brennan looks back on her choice of joining robotics as one of her best, as she has become not only a leader at her school, but for all of Smithtown as an inspiring young woman in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).She has served as president of Smithtown East’s robotics competition team, Team 810, for the last two years, bringing her passion to the group and preparing them for competition season, which kicks off in January.
Beyond leading her school’s group in competition each year, Brennan was recognized individually by FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) as a Dean’s List Award Semi-Finalist in her sophomore and junior year. With this award, Brennan was invited to compete with FIRST Robotics at the world championships, representing Long Island as one of two students selected from the region.
As Brennan’s impacts she robotics have gone global, she takes most pride in what she has done for other young women in the Smithtown community who are passionate about STEM. In her sophomore year of high school, Abby created G.I.R.L.S (Girls Inspiring Robotics and Leadership in Smithtown) night, an event that brings women in STEM professions to Smithtown to inspire the next generation of girls in the industry.
Additionally, she teamed up with the Smithtown Library this summer to start a Girls Who Code chapter, bringing resources and a safe space for girls in the community to explore their interests in computer science, and to work on a project targeting a community issue.
“It was amazing to not only learn coding myself, but get to learn it among a bunch of other girls,” she said. “It was really cool to see all of them end up with a project they were proud of.”
As Abby has already made astounding achievements in her community, her future goals span much farther. Abby plans to study aerospace engineering in college to eventually work in defense contracting for the U.S. military. However, she strives to continue building up young women in STEM in Smithtown and beyond.
