For the Mentor

1. What has been your favorite experience on the team?

1. It helps kids with career
1. Watching students grow past high school
b. What does FIRST and the team mean to you?
i. Only 5 people when start
ii. Unbelievable that we have over 130 students
iii. FIRST opens up doors to STEM for kids for both engineering and business
iv. FIRST inspires kids
b. What kind of impact do you believe you’ve had on the team?
i. Patience and understanding, ability to talk to students if something goes wrong
ii. Believes impact is a group effort: mentors, student leads, parents
iii. “One small cog in a group of people”
b. What made you want to be the team advisor?
i. In 1997, South Lyon before PCEP
ii. Milford’s team inspired him to start robotics due to their enthusiasm about
robotics in South Lyon
1. Due to changing jobs, started the first team with 5 students in 1999 as
465
b. What experience do you have with other levels of FIRST?
i. Have run 2 FLL jr teams
ii. Started the first team at Discovery with FTC
iii. Miller’s FLL team
iv. Reffed FTC
v. Runs FTC event
vi. Helped build FLL teams
vii. MDE grant for FLL jr, FLL, and FTC
1. 200-300 hours
b. How long have you been associated with FIRST?
i. 23 years with FIRST
b. What qualities should a good mentor have, and who inspired your opinion on that?
i. Patience
1. Lost a lot of mentors
ii. Student led!
iii. “You have to be willing to give you time up for the students”
b. What’s your greatest achievement on the team?
i. “Getting through the early years”
1. Had to control everything
ii. “Just sticking with it is a great achievement”
iii. Getting students back into the swing of things after the pandemic
iv. Allowing anyone who wants to on the team despite all odds
b. What do you think is the biggest difference between when the team started and where it
is now?
i. Technology
1. Had to take apart hand drills for the motors initially
ii. Originally 465
iii. Events were very different
b. What do you think is the biggest challenge you’ve encountered on the team, and how did
you face it?
i. Keeping kids involved and active
ii. Getting rooms every night due to COVID
 iii.
Keeping the team in the school
1. Paperwork with the school to allow us to continue
b. What are some of your responsibilities as Team Advisor?
i. Getting rooms for meetings
ii. Renewing the club participation every year
iii. Organizing mentors with Lead Mentor
iv. Getting recognition from the school district
1. “Bragging about the team”
ii. Filing school paperwork for trips
iii. Good representation at community events
iv. Knowing team history

For the Students

1. How has this mentor affected you as a person?
2. Why do you think this mentor embodies the ideals of the Woodie Flowers Award?
3. What memorable experiences have you had with this mentor?
4. How long have you known this mentor for? 
5. What are some of this mentors best qualities to you?
6. How has this mentor increased your teamwork?
7. What has the mentor done to spread FIRST in your community?

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