[Cynette]

As Team 1511 completes its final preparations for FLR this weekend, the mentors, teachers, alumni and older students will be taking time out to remember the life of Keith Kearns who died unexpectedly over the weekend.

Keith joined our team in our rookie year (2005), and was a member of our 2006 Driveteam. He was able to graduate a year early to head off the Monroe Community College to get started with college. Even while attending college, he came back for build season to help the team build the robot. He was a master of the drivetrain, and was always great at helping our students learn the ropes.

He was known for his hard-core music tastes, constant coffee drinking, immunity to drama, wicked sense of humor and for always coming through for his friends and for the team.

Since our rookie year, Rolling Thunder has always felt like a family. This loss is teaching one of the hard lessons on what it means to be part of that family. It also crystallizes the idea that FIRST is about so much more than the robot. We are honored that Keith’s family has included his membership in FIRST Robotics in his obituary. Our hearts go out to his family and to the other friends who will also be missing him dearly.