I started playing with LEGOs from an early age, but FIRST LEGO League (FLL) when I started to learn to apply engineering principles. It was where I learned my passion for learning and working as a team.

In high school, I started on the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team and fell in love with working with my hands. Taking the designs I imagined and creating them out of raw material. I learned many skills from the mentors and other students, including many machining practices I pull from to this day. In my Junior year, I took on the role of Mechanical Lead. In this role, I was responsible for the mechanical design of the robot and making sure the robot got built. Then senior year I moved up to Co-team Lead heading up the technical side of the FRC team under the mentorship of great adults. This was my first leadership role integrating people, timelines, and electromechanical systems.

Taking my FIRST Robotics knowledge with me, I started on my college robotics journey at Valparaiso University. I joined the college robotics club, I advanced both my mechanical and leadership skills. I participated in two competitions the National Robotic Football League and Midwest Robotics Design Competition (MRDC).

After two years of participation, I was voted Co-President where I led the team to participate in robotics competitions but also STEAM outreach. I was on the leadership committee that started Valpo’s first STEAM fair in the combination with the National Robotic Competition’s Playoff hosted by Valpo. It was a huge success and is something that continues today. We also supported several FRC teams with Brainstorming sessions.

After graduating with a Mechanical Engineering Degree in 2017, I started mentoring an FRC team, DERT 2040. I was the Design and Mechanical mentor. Additionally, I was the team representative for the Central IL Robotics Competition Planning Committee.

The best part was sharing my knowledge with the students on the team and then learning from them and the other mentors on the team.

Just after graduation, I started judging for FIRST LEGO League as a Core Values Judge. After several years of judging, I was asked to take on the leadership role of Judge Advisor. In this role, I had the responsibility of finding judge volunteers and coordinating the day of the competition including facilitating the deliberation process where awards are decided.

I was asked to transition from an FRC mentor to help a new FIRST Technology Challenge(FTC) team. I am also the FTC Scorekeeper for the Central IL area competition which involves setting up the scoring system network and running the scoring system on the day of the event.