I would like to, on behalf of all the high schoolers on team 229, take this time to thank JVN and Eric O’Brien. They have made FIRST such a positive experience for me and many other students on 229. With their designs both crazy and cool, search our site for John’s flying robot design .They have made my first two years in FIRST such an enjoyable experience. I am now so into FIRST, I mean my homepage is ChiefDelphi , that I don’t think i could go a year with out it. I have learned so much from these two college FIRST-er’s and I owe them so much. They are both amazing mentors, designers, and people.
This year I had the great honor of being coached by one Mr. JVN. He is an amazing coach and strategist. I always wondered why everyone thought of John as such a celebrity, he is just an amazing person that can teach us all so much. He took the time to introduce anyone to anyone they wanted. I met Paul Copioli, Andy Baker, Ken Patton, and so many more through John. I continue to learn more and more from John every day. Everything from gear reductions to mechanism design, John was always willing to help us to understand. I am sure he will always be spending some of his spare time searching these forums and posting advice for all the novices like me.
I also learned a lot through my time spent with Eric. Whether it was trig or physics, he always took the time to explain something we didn’t understand. He was a great team leader and will be a great engineer.
I just want to say Good luck and thank you to John and Eric for all they have taught me and the rest of the team. They will surely be missed. They are great mentors, but more importantly great people. I will always think of them as my friends, even though they are 6 years older than me . Thank you again to 229’s graduating mentors, John and Eric, from all of us.
In the three years I’ve been in FIRST robotics, John and Eric have been amazing mentors. They have taught me everything I’ve asked them to explain, and even shown me things I didn’t know existed. I owe much of my FIRST addiction to these two. From their wondrous robot designs to the conversations at Clarkson, they’ve helped make robotics that much more interesting for me. I hope that where ever I end up in life, there is a John
V-Neun and Eric O’Brien to help me along my way. Thank you soo much, this is most definitely going to be what I remember of high school many years down the road.
From a different perspective, I just want to give a simple thanks to Eric & John (and Adrienne & Chris) for bringing 229 to the potential I always knew it had That students are able to once again get from the program what they should (as demonstrated by these posts) brings a smile to my face.
And of course thanks for helping me stick through the year with 1511, while the rookie year is the most fun, it often poses the most “what the heck was I thinking?!?!” moments.
And thanks to Eric for making me get back into this… 1511 was well worth the blood sweat and tears, and if it werent for you, they wouldnt be here!
So I raise my glass to two amazing mentors that I am happy to say are friends!
Way to thank them Jay… I knew this was coming sometime soon.
I personally dont know Eric… but from Jay’s description, it looks like he helped the 229ers to get where they are now. So I salute you.
John V. Neun… he is the man. I can go off on on this topic. Jay, you are not the only one who he helped… he helped students like me who are willing to learn in FIRST, he passed his knowledge about designing transmission to me as I am passing them to others. Only reason I personally know how to design a transmission is because of him and Andy Baker. Both of them spent lot of time with me, teaching me how to do it properly. I respect both mentors with all my heart and I want to wish both of them luck.
… We, students are glad that we have mentors like you in FIRST.
I would like to send out a thank you to John VN. I’m sure I would do the same for Eric if I knew him personally from all the good things I have heard about him.
This year was my first year as a field coach. I drove for 269 for 3 years in high school and thought I was decently prepared to move into this role. But as I thought about it more and started to get prepared I realized that it was a huge deal. And I wanted to get some help.
John and I started talking and he offered invaluable advice and confidence boosters that helped me immensely. We would talk constantly about the game, compare notes, and he would answer anything I asked. At Boilermaker John was there to throw me small words of advice and in Atlanta our pits were close, so we got to chat quite often.
The help John gave me this year made me a better coach. Sure I may have been able to do it without him, but his words of wisdom were better than anything I would have come up with alone. He inspired me to go above and beyond and I also made a good friend.
Thank you John for all your help this year, and good luck in the future.
Today John and Eric graduated from Clarkson University, both with Mechanical Engineering degrees. I want to congratulate them and once again thank them for being such an integral part of team 229 for the 4 years they were at Clarkson. They made this team grow by leaps and bounds every year and we wouldn’t be anywhere close to where we are today if these 2 didn’t dedicate themselves so much to the team. You guys are amazing! Everyone on the team will miss you so much! I better see both of you soon
.They have made my first two years in FIRST such an enjoyable experience. I am now so into FIRST, I mean my homepage is ChiefDelphi 
, that I don’t think i could go a year with out it. I have learned so much from these two college FIRST-er’s and I owe them so much. They are both amazing mentors, designers, and people.
. Thank you again to 229’s graduating mentors, John and Eric, from all of us.
That students are able to once again get from the program what they should (as demonstrated by these posts) brings a smile to my face.