Christopher Loos
FIRST alumnus and Mechanical Design Engineer at KLA 

Nicole Speciale
FIRST alumna and Communications Specialist at KLA

This mentor has, in the words of the students, applied constant dedication and passion for STEM over the years. The result has been students whose knowledge and enthusiasm for robotics and engineering have grown in both depth and breadth. With this mentor’s guidance, students have gained more than skills and techniques – they have gained a thorough understanding of their larger role in the team and beyond.

Aerospace Valley Regional, Team 2429

This mentor has been a steady source of expertise and stability for their team. Adding his experience allows students to understand mechanical solutions as well as explore options not yet thought of. Whether it is teaching a student the proper technique to weld or working to increase the size of the membership, his apparently tireless efforts are felt by all of the students.

Central Valley Regional, Team 2035

This individual has been an active part of FIRST in both the FLL and FRC programs throughout the past 12 years. This person’s journey consists of mentorship, volunteering at events, and most importantly inspiring students and creating an inclusive culture in the team’s program. The ability of this individual to promote the culture of FIRST as a service-oriented, diverse, and spirited program deserves great recognition. Instilling in students, the desire to celebrate team successes as the sum of each and every individual’s contributions is this person’s mantra.

Del Mar Regional, Team 6960

This mentor is focused on student engagement, student knowledge and student development using precise communication skills. One student stated “…he encouraged us to improve our communications as well. Whether that be by capturing more in presentations and documentation or enhancing technical communications by helping improve the design-build-programming cycle…”.

Additionally, another student believe’s he is “crucial in helping students gain a deeper understanding of engineering concepts. For instance, to help refine our knowledge of gear ratios, he developed his own modified version of JVN’s Gearbox Calculator. His precise, research-and-data-driven approach to finding solutions has drastically changed how designs, mechanical, electrical, and software, are developed.”

Los Angeles Regional, Team 2637

This mentor has been motivating and encouraging students to be better on a daily basis for thirteen years. He enforces the team’s engineering method, “Think, Design, Build.”

But above all else, when the going gets tough and stressful, he offers the simplest and perhaps best advice of all, “just breathe”.

Los Angeles North Regional, Team 207

This mentor not only manages his teams organization, he also creates seminars and learning sessions to enable new students to become versed in the skills needed to design and build robots. He encourages the members to collect data, document actions, maintain engineering notes, and be able to present the results competently. His passion for robotics goes beyond the team as he is involved in expanding FIRST teams and events around the area.

Monterey Bay Regional, Team 5104

The students on this team note that this mentor sees potential in all our team members even when they can’t. This mentor has created a team of leaders with values that team members retain after they move out into their careers. Through this mentor’s efforts, his students have learned how to problem-solve, and not just in Engineering.

Orange County Regional, Team 5810

This mentor’s insistence on students learning from hands-on trial and error has transformed this team into one which has provided generations of kids meaningful engineering experiences. It is the lessons we learn through failure and success that this mentor is clearly passionate about. It is the approach to communicating to students that has clearly worked for this team over the past 14 years and they are much better prepared for the future.

Sacramento Regional, Team 2204

As the students wrote, “This mentor’s natural openness and enthusiasm is infectious, earning respect and trust from all team members. His bubbly and approachable personality is why students are comfortable coming to him with all their questions, knowing he will go above and beyond to explore new ideas and encourage out of the box thinking. He pushes us to arrive at solutions ourselves with thought-provoking questions, while making sure our ideas are valued. He puts his whole heart into involving everyone, creating a team culture based on improvement and excellence.”

This mentor, “hosts events, workshops, competitions and outreach events. He is the liaison between neighboring teams sharing resources with 20 other FRC teams. He is the unwavering champion of our team, and the representative of everything we stand for.”

San Diego Regional, Team 3476

This mentor strives to provide everyone on this team with individual guidance and attention, a tough task for a team of over 100 students! With tough love, this mentor precisely calculates his expectations to push the team beyond their perceived personal limits. Becoming a math teacher after retirement from being an electrical engineer, he began his real “new career” mentoring this robotics team. Coining the team mantra “Building People, Building Robots” this mentor has the energy to move mountains, but he could probably convince the mountains to move themselves!

San Francisco Regional, Team 2473

This mentor knows that it is important to prioritize health above all, take breaks, laugh, and love often. Throughout her life, she has modeled the virtues that Woodie Flowers strived to reward while she continues to strive for humanity, facing unparalleled challenges in a field that has traditionally been unfriendly to women.

Arizona North Regional, Team 1138

This mentor has been instrumental in transitioning the team from a club to a class. By working with district and student representatives, he has made FIRST available to over 20,000 students spanning across two districts. As head robotics coordinator for the district, he oversaw the design and creation of a new robotics curriculum. Through teacher and student-led plans, the unique curriculum focuses on building the student’s curiosity and spurring a passion in engineering.

His curiosity pervades into the minds of his students, encouraging students to explore a new concept or to design and iterate to ensure their curiosity is met.

Ventura Regional, Team 5199

Halley Brewer
Temecula, CA
Team 4984

Melody Chu
San Diego, CA
Team 3341

Lucia Giacalone
West Hills, CA
Team 1138

Jennifer Kim
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Team 2710

Eric Limonadi
La Crescenta, CA
Team 589

Madalyn Nguyen
Poway, CA
Team 1622

Anjo Pagdanganan
Salinas, CA
Team 6506

Nicole Yeh
El Segundo, CA
Team 4201

A FIRST alum, MIT graduate and team mentor, Ellen is a shining role model for young women. As our Judge Advisor at Aerospace Valley Regional she also stepped up as the Judge Advisor for another regional when needed. Additionally, she works with FLL and FTC and is FIRST through and through. She is simply the best!

Aerospace Valley Regional

This incredible volunteer is a FIRST alum, team mentor, and has been our dedicated Volunteer Coordinator for many years. Garry’s creativity and friendly demeanor truly enhances the Volunteer experience making the Central Valley Regional an event full of fun!

Central Valley Regional

To help commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Los Angeles Regional, the Volunteer of the Year Awarded goes to JPL who has been providing volunteer support to the Regional for 20 years!

Some people call JPL the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, but over the years we have learned that JPL really means Just Plain Loyal as they have been with the LA Regional for 20 years providing thousands of volunteer hours with field set-up, inspecting, refereeing, queueing, judging, volunteer coordinating, and having members on the FIRST Robotics Competition Los Angeles Regional Planning Committee.

Los Angeles Regional

Michael began as a parent mentor, has volunteered for the Ventura Regional since the inception and now Chairs the Los Angeles North Regional.  He helps other teams with their robots (even fabricating parts for them at his precision fabrication company) and is always available to help with off-season, FLL and any FIRST event.  He loves what FIRST does for students and embodies the attributes of FIRST on a daily basis.

Los Angeles North Regional

This dedicated mentor expanded volunteering beyond his FRC team to impact the growing Monterey Bay FIRST community. Robin is an integral region planning member, started FIRST LEGO League teams, and launched the FRC Kickoff for local teams to connect and celebrate together.

Monterey Bay Regional

This volunteer has been an integral part of the Sacramento Regional Planning Committee for years. Richard’s dedication extends beyond being a team mentor by his efforts in generating attention and excitement for the event with local media and community leaders.

Sacramento Regional

Jodi has been with the San Diego Regional Planning Committee for many years and has been an active business mentor on Team 3965 Sultans. Leading our Invited Guest Event for the last three years, we are so appreciative of her support and pleased to recognize her as our Volunteer of the Year.

San Diego Regional

Melissa is known as an outstanding national FIRST alumni, role model for young women, but also dedicated member of the FRC family in San Francisco. She helped launch the San Francisco Regional 4 years ago and remained dedicated ever since, even when she worked abroad in Europe.

San Francisco Regional

We are grateful this seasoned FRC mentor recently moved to California and joined our FRC family. Debbie has become an integral Silicon Valley region leader, running robot build workshops, exhibiting FRC at tech conferences, supporting sponsor engagement, and recruiting volunteers from all walks of life.

Silicon Valley Regional

Michael stepped in to mentor a highly visible, award winning team in the county, plans and stages many outreach and off-season events, organized a new venue for FLL tournaments when their plans fell through, and all the while plays a role in the pandemic crisis.   

Ventura Regional