Our mentors make up the foundation of Winnovation. Each mentor contributes to Team 1625 in their own unique and special way. But, one has made a significant impact and also a founding mentor of Winnovation, Scott Hill. For the past 14 years, he has mentored students while helping them grow and learn. He is an architect/farmer alongside managing a robotics team. Not only is Scott inspiring members on Team 1625, he has inspired his 3 sons to mentor Spartan Robotics 971, OTTO 1746, and Chicken Bot Pie 3082. He is always introducing those around him to FIRST and its values.
Scott got his love for STEM from his dad while working on the farm. His dad taught him hard work while teaching him to repair tractors, fences, and barns. This learning experience sparked his interest to help others and inspire students to learn to solve problems. After many years around the farm he transferred this knowledge to his work as an architect.
His experiences in architecture have taught him to think differently and creatively. Different aspects transferred over from architecture such as the attention to space and the detail. It also has taught him how to look at everything with a different perspective. These skills have come to help all of the students as we build our robot. It has also helped the team work together and discover new ideas with STEM that have made Scott an invaluable asset to Winnovation.
Scott has created close relationships with students while working with them on a daily basis. He teaches them the principles of STEM, as well as ways to apply them in real life. His encouragement helps students to come together as a team to complete a variety of tasks such as brainstorming solutions to the game, learning to work together by performing important tasks, and communicating effectively during our weekly team meetings.
Besides being a part of Winnovation, Scott has contributed to FIRST in many other ways. From events he has refereed; as a past inspector for FTC meets; and by helping host an off-season event called R2OC. Scott supports other team endeavors and field trips. In Nov. 2014, Team 1625 was invited by Texas Torque (1477) to come visit NASA and compete in their off season event. This trip was based off of a bond created by Scott and Coach Rip when on an alliance at Einstein. This is just one of many examples of the important bonds created because of his dedication to FIRST.
Throughout his 14 years on the team, Scott has shown the extreme importance of determination, ambition, curiosity, creativity, initiative, and of course the secrets of the universe.
Scott has created the perfect environment in the bot shop with his extreme push for creativity. Scott has helped us do our best both inside and outside the shop, by keeping us focused and bettering ourselves. We would like to nominate Scott Hill as our Woodie Flowers Award nominee because he has stood by our side no matter what and we would like him to get the recognition he deserves.