Congratulations to our newest WFFAs. Special thanks to their teams for making such a spectacular nomination.
Kansas City Pete Speer Team #1730
Granite State Ralph Newell Team #58
Smoky Mountain Sam Bacon Team 1466
Alamo David Yanoshak Team #2158
San Diego Bill Berggren Team #1538
Congrats David and the AusTin Cans on their Chariman’s and Dean’s List.
That was a huge sweep at Alamo
Some of you might know David as the Jaguar guy !
http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?t=18532
But I’ve known David as a committed mentor since 2007 in the AusTin Cans FIRST Rookie Season.
It is interesting to look back at the Rookie All-Star Newsletter from AusTin Cans in 2007 !
To their current 2012 Form ! http://www.andersonrobotics.org/team-biographies/
add Dave Owen from team 1557(12voltbolt) at the Orlando regional.
Congratulations to the 2012 Finger Lakes Regional WFFA winner, Jeff Downs from Team #1511!!
I was very happy to be present for the Duluth Regional presentation to Mike Whitman of More Robotics, 1714. Congratulations to a great mentor who really cares about his students.
Travis Hoffman of the noteworthy Delphi Elite FRC Team #48, in Pittsburgh. Congrats to all.
OK, Congratulations to Week 2 WFFAs,
Haim Derivin from Team #1574
Dave Owen from team #1557
Mike Whitman from Team #1714
Travis Hoffman from Team #48
Don Morrison from Team #610
Jay Cameron
Marco Ciavolino from Team #3941
Jeff Downs from Team #1511
Dale Yocum from Team #1540
Yet another year full of “I can’t believe they’re not already WFFAs” WFFAs.
Our lead mentor has banned us from nominating every year, except he forgot to this year. 
I’m feeling very good about his chances at the Wisconsin Regional.
On to congratulations for our week three WFFAs!
John Charlton Team #296
Eric Nelson Team #1072
Jose Ignacio Fernandez (team not listed)
Ed Barker Team #1311
Jason Zielke Team #1024
Steven Phillips Team #364
Dean Klein Team#1891
Kathy Ward (team not listed)
Jeanne Boyarsky Team #694
I think that would be FRC 364, Team Fusion, Al. 
Congratulations all!
Jane
Thanks,
Corrected.
Jose is from team 2576, Chilean Heart. He was able to hold his team together despite losing his father in the earthquake last year.
Thanks! And thanks for editing week 3 for our (NY) “one day later than everyone else regional”.
While some of the WFFA recipients are well-known to veteran CD-ers, several of them are unknown to those of us separated by geography. I invite all of you to describe the achievements of this year’s WFFAs.
Please allow me to take a minute or two to discuss the Boilermaker Regional WFFA, Jason Zielke.
Jason tends to be a quiet, thoughtful, modest individual that most students may recognize by sight but probably would not know well.
Indiana has the luxury of having several close-knit, friendly teams who work together to raise each other up. We host at least three FRC offseason competitions, an annual workshop to educate and train team members, have regular mentor conferences - we’re a pretty progressive and pragmatic state (it should be noted we’re not exclusive - several teams from area states have participated in our projects). Jason looked at what we’re doing, and saw how it could be improved.
Under his lead, we have greatly increased our presence in the community. He organized or helped organize FRC exhibitions at a Maker Faire, at Celebrate Science Indiana - a huge festival at the State Fairgrounds, an interactive ‘mini-competition’ at Interactive Intelligence, a company that Jason helped bring on-board to support many area teams, and more. He leverages his experience and contacts to bring in sponsors, supporters, and media. He takes pride in and celebrates all teams, not just the Kil-A-bytes. This year, a quarter of the 40 teams competing at the Boilermaker Regional were rookies. Jason had a hand in the creation of many of these teams. He has paired large organizations - such as Interactive Intelligence and the TechPoint Foundation - with IndianaFIRST, creating funding and celebratory opportunities with all teams, rookie and veteran alike.
I imagine there are several people on CD that can fill in pieces of info I’m missing.
It’s hard to imagine Jason doing all the work he’s done to help promote and fund STEM initiatives while keeping a full-time job. His career is pretty cool, too - his company designs and manufactures autonomous golf green mowers, and employs several FRC alumni and mentors.
Inside and outside the FIRST community, Jason exemplifies gracious professionalism and is truly a STEM hero and role model. I look forward to watching him cross the stage at the World Championships soon.
Congratulations to all the Week Four WFFAs,
Roger Balech Team 3161
Jessica Popham Team 2375
David Murphy Team 2996
James Herbert Team 2090
Jacquelyn Moore Team 1739
Paul Woodley Team 1761
Cathy Sylve Team 1985
Chuck Trautwein
Henry Bennett Team 342
Donna Lew Team 488
Eric VanBuren Team 2046
Benjamin Senson Team 1306
Congratulations to Week Five Woodie Flowers Inductees…
Jim Wilks Team #1334
Jim Mori, Team #604
Michael Murphy Team #2836
Jason Stern
Kenneth Stafford, Team #190
James Lynch, Team #2220
Gene Jasper, several teams in Lacrosse, WI.
Robert Gandolfo, Team #527
Joel Guthridge, Team #2435
Travis Ray, Team #1817
Steve Alaniz, Team #2848
You can read his nomination on our website.
Thanks for this Taylor! Team Beta’s students did a pretty good job of describing Mike Murphy in his submission essay, so I’ll attach it here. The whole team was ecstatic when we heard his name announced. He may be a relatively new face on the FIRST block, but he really gets it.
It’s my honor to congratulate Mike Murphy from FIRST team 2836, Team Beta for winning the 2012 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional Woodie Flowers Finalist Award:
http://i.imgur.com/m1rQ2.jpg
2012 Team Beta WFFA Submission.doc (28 KB)
2012 Team Beta WFFA Submission.doc (28 KB)
Huge congratulations to Ranjit Chahal (RC to most people) for being named the Woodie Flowers Finalist for the new Central Valley Regional.
So proud of him!
