Underdog Dream Team
An uplifting tale of ingenuity and pluck offers lessons in the power of engineering education for under-represented groups.
Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream
By Joshua Davis
Farrar Straus Giroux 2014, 224 pages
This inspiring tale of immigrant misfits who upset powerhouse college teams to win a prestigious national underwater robotics contest is arguably best suited for high school readers. Yet Spare Parts also contains food for thought for engineering educators – about the promise of the K-12 pipeline; how engineering competitions can motivate students; and whether U.S. immigration policies squander the talents of a rising generation.
In the hands of journalist Joshua Davis, best known for his contributions to Wired magazine, the book’s narration is light and fast paced. Early chapters focus on the separate struggles of the four young Mexicans as each moves to West Phoenix and enrolls in Carl Hayden Community High School, incongruously home to a marine-science magnet program in the Arizona desert. Heading the program is Fredi Lajvardi, the quintessential cool teacher who blasts rock music and approaches his interactive, no-lecture class with “the high-intensity energy of a sporting event.” When Lajvardi’s students first enter the state’s regional robotics contests, they place 31 out of 37. Yet the chance to join a team, build something, and compete offers strong incentive to persist. While computer programming and engineering prove the biggest draw, at least one member of the legendary 2004 squad also seeks sanctuary as an alternative to joining local gangs.
The messages contained within Spare Parts are uncomplicated but compelling. We follow the progress of Christian, Lorenzo, Luis, and Oscar with growing anticipation as Lajvardi and fellow teacher Allan Cameron push the boys to make their own discoveries. The adults often stand back, spurring the team to raise its own funds by soliciting companies for advice and donations, and finding the engineering solution when things go wrong. The teachers also put in long hours, purchase supplies from their own pockets, and scope out opportunities for their students, such as the underwater robotics competition at the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center in Monterey, California. Their decisions could be tough – cutting a fifth member for poor grades, for example – or unconventional, entering the team in the college rather than high school category. In detailing the group’s challenges, from last-minute leaks (stanched by tampons) to ballast and buoyancy questions, Davis captures the ingenuity that fuels engineering projects and the tremendous sense of triumph when solutions save the day. By the time the team members head to California, quizzing each other during the seven-hour drive on spike relays, pulse-width modulation, and index of refraction, the depth of their learning is evident. Given the narrative thrust, it comes as little surprise when the motley Carl Hayden crew and its ROV, “Stinky” – so named for its nasty-smelling glue – prevails against juggernauts like MIT.
In the years that followed, Carl Hayden’s robotics squads continued their successes in regional, state, and national competitions. Students flocked to the class, girls joined the team, and outreach programs expanded to local elementary schools. “Now, when the team competed, the cheerleaders showed up,” writes Davis. By 2008, the robotics program had become a college pathway, earning more scholarship dollars than all the athletic programs combined.
The recently released movie Underwater Dreams celebrates the boys’ story, concluding with their Monterey victory. But real-life happy endings have proved elusive. Davis underscores the ongoing hardships West Phoenix students face. As illegal immigrants, many are prevented from entering state colleges and consigned to low-paying jobs, despite their scholastic achievement. Of the 2004 team, only Oscar succeeded in securing American citizenship – and only after U.S. Senator Dick Durbin intervened. Though his 2010 DREAM Act legislation was defeated, the Illinois Democrat pressed for reconsideration of Oscar’s rejected application, helping push through approval. Oscar went on to serve in Afghanistan before joining the BNSF railway company as a mechanical foreman. His teammates remain undocumented. One works as a janitor, another as a line cook. Christian, seemingly the brightest of the group, lost his scholarship after Arizona tightened laws to withhold assistance to undocumented residents. He now advocates for minority involvement in science, technology, engineering, and math, and is raising money to finish his electrical engineering degree. One day, he aims to start his own company and “focus on creating great things for consumers and our world.”
Review by Robin Tatu
Robin Tatu is Prism’s senior editorial consultant.