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FTC Vanta 31000 2025-2026

complete

I mentored and TA'd a lot at Duke. I like teaching — I think the real test of whether you understand something is whether you can hand it to somebody else. That got me talking to a coworker whose son wanted to start a community FTC team, and despite knowing fairly little about competitive robotics, I said yes. Little did I know, this would turn into a project that I'm going to continue for the rest of my life.

On the FIRST Tech Challenge field, robot in front.
On the FIRST Tech Challenge field, robot in front.

The 2025-26 season was DECODE: build a robot that collects coloured balls from around the field and shoots them into the right goal.

My sessions were the parts I could actually offer — CAD, Git, coding practices, how to prototype something before committing to it — plus reviewing their engineering portfolio, which covers everything from robot design to business outreach.

The team at competition.
The team at competition.

They were in high school and there were plenty of afternoons where they knew more than I did about whatever we were looking at. I learned a lot from them, and I think that is a sign of a good mentor. You learn from wherever you can!

Team and mentors.
Team and mentors.
In the arena.
In the arena.
Medals.
Medals.

This is the one card in the archive where the work was not mine. It was theirs. My job was to make it possible. I've signed up to continue for the 2026-2027 season, and am excited to see all of the kids go on to do amazing things at their respective universities!!!