Encouraging Delaware to embrace FIRST has been John’s goal for the past 12 yrs. Through countless hours his leadership has brought together mentors, students, parents & sponsors to build an organization that positively impacts our tristate area. John is team founder, Executive Team leader & President of First State Robotics, Inc. His efforts to bring STEM to the attention of students regionally have been recognized with a Jefferson Award, Governor’s Volunteerism Award, & FIRST Volunteer of the Year. He has coached FLL & JFLL teams for 4 yrs.
John spreads FIRST to the community through hundreds of demos & presentations at schools, community events & businesses. He is responsible for DuPont’s support of FIRST, which now includes 10 FRC teams & the Philly Regional. Partnering with Salem Community College (SCC) & FRC316, John founded the off-season Duel on the DE, now in its 10th year, and added a book drive & job fair. He developed a school robotics curriculum & cowrote a robotics chapter in Teaching & Learning Science. John is a member of the Mid-Atlantic Robotics, Inc. nominating committee.
John created MOE U, our fall training program where students learn engineering, machine shop skills & earn up to 18 college credits at SCC. He challenged students to build a literacy program that has reached thousands of children with team-authored books donated to schools & libraries worldwide. He & a student designed a 1 day competition to introduce FIRST & demonstrate GP to N. Irish students learning to work together through the Ulster Project. They’ve adopted it as an annual program.
MOE is recognized throughout FIRST because of John. He is on the planning team for Ramp Riot, FRC341’s offseason event. For the past 4 years he has presented at the Championship FIRST Robotics Conference & a local kick-off, including “How to Become a Chairman’s Award Winner” & “Multi-school Teams.” He developed MOEmentum in 2003, a web-based weekly guide for rookie FRC teams. Teams worldwide have commented its value as a tool in helping their programs.
John coaches our strategists, scouts & award subteams. With John’s guidance, the team formed a Student Council that is now more involved with the management of the team.
John mentors MOE’s mentors, and his guidance & experience is sought after by many FIRST mentors & FIRST staff – he is the go-to resource in the region.
“In a room full of experienced FIRST mentors, John stands out as a shining example in his own unassuming, friendly way. No one has so successfully recruited & retained mentors & event volunteers the way he has. As a master communicator, his enthusiasm for engineering not only affects countless students in the greater DE region in exceptional ways, but every adult he brings into the fold is uplifted by his presence. When the WFA was created it was as if they had John in mind.” Rich Kressley, FRC1712.
“Mr. MOE” is the duct tape that holds our team together & is THE reason FIRST is present in DE.
