I firmly believe in the importance of mentorship, which fosters personal and professional growth by providing new guidance, support, and opportunities for both the mentor and their students. 

My mentorship began seven years ago and continues to this day.  Most of it was done through the Cybertronics Robotics Club and FRC teams 7435, 8069, and 931, and I treasure every moment of it.  During all this time, I met many children who never built anything more than LEGO kits, not even real robots.  I am so thrilled that I was able to introduce young children to LEGO MInstorms and LEGO WeDO systems, as well as to VEX IQ, providing them with hands-on, valuable experience during the summer camps and through afterschool robotics classes. Besides mentoring elementary-age students, I had the opportunity to work with teens during robotics boot camps and to share my technical expertise with new team members with no prior engineering experience.     

Please see below some highlights of my mentorship journey.

Mentoring with FRC team 931

Having been involved with robotics for many years, I have developed a wide range of skills, from soldering to operating an industrial-grade CNC router, which I’ve used to create parts for my robotics team. I’m passionate not only about robotics but also about teaching others. I always look forward to the opportunity to share my skills with them. I like to adopt a hands-on approach, not only showing how to do something but also making sure they understand it and can recreate and transform the techniques into their own. 

Along with being a member of FRC 931, I simultaneously joined their FTC team, 288 SpareParts, to mentor and inspire FTC students to use advanced building techniques learned through my FRC experience and apply them to their smaller FTC robot.

         Working with new members on building a robot shooting mechanism

Mentoring with FRC team 8069

                Advising a new team member on putting drive train together

   I took initiative

After 

   My team captain and I were pleased to be invited to demonstrate our FTC robot to the youth who presented their projects at the FIRST® LEGO League Jr. EXPOs and to talk to event visitors and participants about our involvement with FIRST^®.