UFH: Wendy Wooten

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Thread created automatically to discuss UFH Honoree: Wendy Wooten.



Name: Wendy Wooten
Date Honored: 07-31-2004
Years involved w/FIRST: 8
FIRST Team(s): Boeing Rocketdyne/Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers/FADAL Engineering & Chatsworth HS (0022)
Role: Teacher and Mentor
Quote: “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” -Albert Einstein
Bio: Wendy Wooten is our first female Unsung FIRST Hero, and a deserving one at that. Working closely with Team 22 and helping them achieve great recognition in recent years, Wendy is well-known for her dedication to FIRST.

Wendy is sincere but passionate about her accomplishments. "'Sharing the passion' is the motto of Team 22, and I think that best describes our accomplishments. As one of the two original SoCal FIRST teams, we have worked diligently to promote FIRST, both the FRC and FLL, in southern California. Extensive recruiting and mentoring of rookie schools and teams, hosting off season competitions, events and workshops, volunteering at other Regionals, sharing our resources (both material and fabrication capabilities) and creating and establishing school curricula in robotics are among the goals we have set and achieved. Currently we are encouraging other teams to run LEGO-Robotics and Robovation Summer Camps (as we have for the past 4 years) which serve as outstanding fundraisers and effective FIRST promotional activities."

Wendy also gives us a bit of insight on her favorite FIRST memories: "[It] would have to be when Team 22 won the 2001 Chairman’s Award at the Championship in Orlando, FL. It was such a great honor, and I was so proud of the Team – the kids, the parents, the mentors and the sponsors – and the tremendous dedication and hard work they put into the program."

After such great memories, Wendy tells us a little bit about her feelings towards the program. "As an educator for over 30 years, I have yet to see an educational program which even comes close to FIRST. It is an engaging, hands-on experience rich in the application of teamwork, problem solving and critical thinking skills. The quality of all FIRST competitions and events is extraordinary and the support provided by the FIRST staff is phenomenal. The greatest treasure of FIRST is the impact that the experience has on the students. The skills they gain, the confidence they develop, the camaraderie they share, all result in raising the students’ own aspirations and focusing their future pathways. The more that you and your team gets involved in FIRST, the greater the rewards they reap."

Congratulations to Wendy Wooten, our seventeenth Unsung FIRST Hero, on UFH's first birthday.

Nominated By: DCA Fan