Team Mentors
Denny C.
Denny is the Classical Engineers head coach and has 1 year of FTC experience. Denny wanted his son Kyle to join robotic because its a great program and they really enjoyed it last year. He says his experience with robotics to this point has been overwhelming. He expected kids would learn the programming and work to assemble the robot but that is a small part of the program. Communication skills, organizational skills, marketing and promotion as well as problem solving skills are all things they will use in school and out. Denny hopes Kyle will continues to expand his communication skills by discussing things as a team as well as the with mentors and the judges. By helping other FTC teams at the robotic center, he plans to be an example of gracious professionalism. Denny is a mechanical engineer and designs plumbing and fire protection systems. In his free time he coaches softball and baseball.
Renee M.
Renee M. is a payroll Accountant for 2 school districts in Monroe County, Michigan, mother of 2 boys, and a first coach for FTC Team 8579, The Classical Engineers. This is her second year involved in FTC. She got involved last year when her youngest son, Adam, joined the Classical Engineers. She hopes that Adam will grow his love for designing and building things, along with learning how to work as a team. Renee hopes to demonstrate gracious professionalism by being a positive role model. In her free time, Renee likes to go camping and just hang out with family.
Sandra W.
Sandra W. is an assistant coach for the Classical Engineers and is the mother of team member, Jared Wachowiak. She is a pharmacist for a local hospital system. While only having one year of robotic experience with the Classical Engineers last year, Sandra always enjoyed math and science in school. Her son, Jared, was always creating unique Lego projects with intricate pulley and motor systems. He would then work on them further to improve the design so robotics seemed like a natural progression for him. She hopes that robotics will spark a lifelong love of science and engineering. Sandra hopes that by seeing ideas on paper come to fruition through hard work, teamwork and trial and error, Jared will develop skills that he will be able to use in the future to be successful. She hopes to demonstrate gracious professionalism by encouraging the team through positive reinforcement, listening to everyone's ideas and leading by example. Sandra enjoys running and spending time with family and friends at her lake cottage.
Tim C.
Tim C. is a first year mentor in robotics with no previous experience in robotics. He is a draftsman/programmer by trade and now is a caregiver to his father in law. He thinks his son Logan will like robotics because they like to watch Battlebots together and he thinks it would be good for his future employment options since almost everything is some sort of robot.
Tim likes that his son Logan is learning life skills, teamwork, design and build, and this will make him an excellent team member. When not helping Logan with robotics, they enjoy camping, fishing, playing outside, and watching football.
Tim likes that his son Logan is learning life skills, teamwork, design and build, and this will make him an excellent team member. When not helping Logan with robotics, they enjoy camping, fishing, playing outside, and watching football.
Tim R.
Tim Roberts is the parent of 7th grader Nick Roberts and this is his second with robotics. Tim wanted Nick to join robotics because Nick expressed interest in engineering and robotics as his big brother Tyler graduated with an engineering degree from the University of Toledo and Tim thought it would be good for Nick to be involved in seeing how engineering can be applied in a fun, hands on learning experience. Tim wants Nick to learn that, as with many things in life, there are many tasks that need to be accomplished in order to achieve a favorable end result and many times you will need to work with others in order to achieve the same goal. I plan to follow gracious professionalism by being an example for others to follow, by listening to opposing views and working with the students and other mentors in order to achieve the most favorable result possible all the while learning and having fun. Tim is a CPA and works as a Manager in the Corporate Treasury department of ProMedica Health System in Toledo, Ohio. In his spare time, Tim enjoys running, fishing, golfing and watching THE Ohio State Buckeye’s and Cleveland Browns.
Matthew S.
Matthew Stewart is our high school mentor. He has been in robotics for 6 years. He is currently a team member of the FRC team Bedford Express out of Temperance, Michigan. He is also in the 12th grade and wants to major as a mechanical engineer. He enjoys building and robots. In his free time he builds robots. Matthew's hobbies include robotics, hanging out with his girlfriend and spending time with his little brother.
Caleb M.
Caleb is an 11th grader at Bedford High School. This is his first year on the high school, and first year as a mentor. He was inspired to join robotic because how much fun his brother Adam had with the Classical Engineers. Caleb would like to learn more about mechanics and engineering and eventually go into to mechanical engineering. He will follow Gracious professionalism by helping another team if they need guidance of support. His hobbies include Woodworking, Building mechanical machines, and putting projects together from kits.