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UFH: Steve Rourke
Thread created automatically to discuss UFH Honoree: Steve Rourke.
Name: Steve Rourke Date Honored: 11-30-2005 Years involved w/FIRST: 4 FIRST Team(s): General Motors - St. Catharines Powertrain/Allied Marine and Industrial &, Governor Simcoe Secondary School (1114), General Motors - St. Catharines Powertrain &, OPG &, Westlane Secondary School (1503), EDS Canada &, Fort Erie Secondary School (1680) Role: Executive Sponsor Quote: “The best solution is the simplest one that works”, and “You don’t get what you don’t ask for”. Bio: Steve Rourke is NiagaraFIRST's do-it-all executive sponsor, and serves as Engineering Director for General Motors of Canada – St. Catharines Powertrain. Working with all three teams, Steve helps to grow FIRST in the Niagara area. He described his role in the program for us: "I’m quite surprised (yet honored) by this selection, since my teams try to keep me away from the robots as part of their winning strategy. I tried to drive it once and crashed it into the wall. They prefer that I keep my sights set on intently growing FIRST in the Niagara Region of Ontario – with the objective of ensuring that these teams are working towards FIRST’s compelling vision, and that they have the highest caliber mentors and organizational support available. My function is akin to that of a chef – responsible for the ingredients of a successful organization. For me, success is about growth. But it must be winning growth. Not necessarily by winning on the field, but by winning within the team – by stirring in the critical ingredients, such as engaged and inspired students; motivated, determined, and capable mentors and teachers; highly organized team systems; objective based plans; relentless pursuit of goals; inter-personal harmony and teamwork. I’ve found that if you have these ingredients, then you will more than likely experience the benefit from another of my favorite quotes…..”The harder you work, the luckier you get”. Once you prepare a winning team with the winning ingredients, then you can grow that in another team – and then another, and another. We use collaboration as a growth strategy to add strong ingredients to a new team, share common expenses between teams to minimize costs, and share lessons learned and common standards to accelerate learning. That’s what we have for the vision of teams collaborating in NiagaraFIRST.org. As an executive with one of the major sponsors, my position affords me the opportunity to use FIRST as a leadership development opportunity for mentors – and I have been able to “recruit” some of the best professional talent. For those of you that know Derek, Karthik, Ian M., Matt, Stephanie, Kate, Tony, Dan, Co, Ian J., Christa, Lukasz, Curtis, Wayne (so sorry if I missed anyone), you’ll know what I mean. These outstanding mentors work with the teams in the foreground, while I applaud in the background." Steve also had a very inspiring FIRST memory to share with us. "Watching the Canadian flag being paraded enthusiastically around the auditorium in Long Island New York as the students from FRC Team 1114 “Simbotics” frantically celebrated their victory at that regional event a few years ago. It was at that moment that I realized the 25 students we had engaged and inspired in the Niagara Region were hundreds too few. Something had to be done. And we set about doing it, with a lot of help from my fellow FIRST friends who shared the vision." Steve also told us a little bit about NiagaraFIRST and its mission. "We’ve developed a support network called NiagaraFIRST.org that links teams together and affords the opportunity for regional collaboration for the purpose of growth and to leverage and share resources. We began in the fall of 2002 with one high school – Governor Simcoe’s Team 1114 “Simbotics” that included 25 students. Since then, we’ve grown to three Robotics Teams and have branched into FIRST LEGO League in an explosive fashion – growing FLL in Niagara from 2 teams to 14 teams in one year, and hosting the FLL Niagara Championship this year with 21 teams participating. Within three years, we’ve grown FIRST involvement in Niagara from 25 students to over 200 that are being inspired to be future science and technology heroes. And we’re not content to leave it at that. The Niagara Region still has room for growth, and we’ve initiated discussion with enthusiastic local school boards and trustees that have expressed interest in helping to facilitate that growth, with more teams for 2006." Although we didn't need much convincing, Steve has a powerful pitch for people newly introduced to FIRST. "As I pitched FIRST recently to the trustees of the local school board, my presentation included the following slide text…..”FIRST offers THE BEST extra-curricular educational experiences available today for students to become inspired in mathematics, science, engineering, computer science, business, and leadership”." Lastly, Steve gave us a few words to reflect upon: "Begin with the end in mind. Work hard, play hard, and get along with everybody while you work towards that end. If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, then change the way you think about it." Congratulations to Steve Rourke, our 47th Unsung FIRST Hero. Nominated By: Karthik Last edited by Brandon Martus : 12-11-2013 at 21:02. |
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