Each year more than 12,000 DoW STEM professionals volunteer to help students of all ages build interest in STEM careers. Many serve as mentors, coaches, and coordinators for FIRST® robotics teams, most at their own direction and on their own time. They are unsung heroes in STEM. According to research conducted by the National Academies, “effective mentors are critical in the development of undergraduate and graduate students in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM)—especially for many members of underrepresented and marginalized populations.”

FIRST is a longtime DoW STEM partner in education. It is an organization dedicated to preparing young people for a future where STEM skills will continue to be valued and sought after in an ever-growing array of technical professions. According to FIRST, an impressive 81% of program alumni major in STEM subjects by their fourth year of college, and 83% say they are confident in their leadership abilities.

DoW STEM is recognizing and celebrating four outstanding DoW STEM volunteers who play a pivotal role on FIRST teams and exemplify the spirit of STEM mentorship. These are individuals who have made a significant positive impact on students, and sometimes entire school districts. DoW STEM acknowledges the important contributions all STEM professionals make while offering their time and expertise to their communities.

Chris Herrick

Test Engineer, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

In six short years, Chris Herrick has provided the leadership needed to bring FIRST team opportunities to every K-12 school in the Noble Public School District in Maine. As part of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard’s (PNS’s) STEM Outreach Program, Chris supports and trains all PNS employees who mentor FIRST teams. He also holds regular meetings for employees who might be interested in getting involved with youth robotics. Once a mentor is matched with a team, Chris maintains continuous communication to make sure they have everything they need to be successful. During the school year, Chris brings his FIRST teams to STEAM nights at elementary schools to fire up the crowd and showcase the exciting things his team’s robots can do.

Chris is the lead mentor for three FIRST LEGO League Challenge and two FIRST Tech Challenge teams. During 2023 alone, Chris spent 454 hours working with FIRST teams and volunteers in service to his community. He launched the Robotics Expo at PNS, where local teams demonstrate how their robots work and share what they have learned. In turn, PNS STEM professionals showcase their own work at the facility and make direct connections to how skills gained through FIRST can be applied to many career pathways in STEM. Chris’s colleagues share that he regularly invents new and innovative ways to engage his FIRST team with career professionals through meaningful shared experiences.

“I would encourage anyone to take a chance and work with a FIRST robotics team in any way you can. Maybe just start off with a small event and be a helping hand. Lots of elementary schools need help with STEM-in-a-box activities. You can absolutely help students experience STEM at a younger age when the exposure is not so often but the impact can be lifelong! Maybe they’ll find something that they really enjoy doing and want to continue as they get older,” says Chris.

Kristy Maconi

Project Engineer, Eglin Air Force Base

Kristy Maconi started working as a FIRST LEGO League coach with first graders seven years ago. Since then she has quickly expanded her involvement to include coaching three after-school teams at two schools, as well as helping to bring FIRST LEGO League to the entire fourth grade at one elementary school, ensuring a trained pipeline for nearby middle and high school teams.

Kristy focuses on team building and making sure that each student gets to know all of their teammates. She believes it is very important that all FIRST team members work together and value the contributions of each member. She also puts a lot of effort into recruiting other students to cheer for her teams during their competitions.

“Through my work as a project engineer for the Air Force I know that you can’t separate engineering from the business of engineering. The kids might not realize it, but being on a FIRST competitive team is giving them real-world experience in how management decisions impact technical decisions, and how technical decisions impact management decisions.

Our students fully understand what’s going on. They know how the robot interface works. They know what they’re doing with coding. They understand the logic of coding. It’s amazing. If you have any reservations about our next generation this program will absolve those for you. These kids are our future and they’re going to be great.”

David Ovesen

Information Technology Supervisor, Vandenberg Space Force Base

David Ovesen sees parallels between his professional role at Vandenberg Space Force Base (SFB), where he plans the base’s current and future information technology needs, and his role as a FIRST mentor and coach, where he seeks to plan—by way of inspiration—for his students to qualify for STEM careers. The proof is in the results: many former students have returned to mentor younger FIRST team members. They have also gained employment in their home town after college, some moving on to work with computer numerical control machines, and others to take part in internships with Deployable Space Systems (now Redwire Space) and Firefly Aerospace, both companies that support the engineers at Vandenberg SFB. Not only have David’s contributions as a mentor inspired students, but they have greatly contributed to his local community.

As a FIRST mentor with the Santa Ynez Valley Union High School robotics team, David subscribes to a hands-off approach, where the students run the team like a business. The mentors are available to provide guidance and parameters as needed.

“How can FIRST lead to future careers with the U.S. Space Force? One example is that we program our team’s robot with many different languages, including Java and LabVIEW, to tell an object what to do. When you program a string of commands the robot takes many actions in a sequence. It turns out that one of Vandenberg SFB’s contractors is a rocket company that uses LabVIEW. That blew my mind when I found out! Now I can directly correlate what my students are learning in high school with these robots to the different companies that are actually launching rockets in space. Right now. We all think it’s the coolest thing ever.”

Jeremiah Pigford

Data Management Engineer, U.S. Army DEVCOM

Jeremiah Pigford brings many years experience competing on FIRST robotics teams as a student himself to his role as mentor and coach of teams close to the U.S. Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. After graduating from Auburn University and joining U.S. Army DEVCOM, Jeremiah researched possible volunteering opportunities on the FIRST website (www.firstinspires.org) where he was able to find a nearby team that welcomed his experience and technical expertise. His energy and enthusiasm have catapulted him to the lead mentor position in just three years.

Jeremiah says that, as a new professional in engineering, he was surprised to learn how important it is to have solid interpersonal skills to help navigate a variety of personality and character traits among colleagues – skills that go way beyond technical requirements for engineers. He believes that FIRST robotics teams offer students real-world experience in this way because the teams are structured just like professional work teams are, with team members responsible for different parts of a project. Success requires each part coming together and working properly. Communication is key, and FIRST provides excellent practice for this crucial skill in STEM.

“While volunteering as a FIRST mentor I've learned that number one, the students are way smarter and more creative than you think. They have a lot of amazing and inspiring solutions to the challenges outlined in the competition. I would advise my colleagues who might be interested in volunteering to approach it with open mind, because you can always learn something from the students if you listen. Some students may need a little bit more of a push than others to get going, but then you’ll see them step out in confidence and do whatever task they've been assigned. They come back to you to get guidance on how to move forward. It's a great thing, and I've learned from them as much as I'm teaching them.”

DoW is proud to support the many FIRST teams that compete each year. To learn more about becoming a DoW STEM–supported FIRST mentor or coach, visit https://www.firstinspires.org/ways-to-help/volunteer.