This season, for the first time, we had an official election! Previously, positions were appointed by mentors, given feedback from team members. While we had a legacy of fantastic leaders through this model, it was informal and less student drive than it could be. Thus, last season we created the by-laws, which we established a concrete plan for leadership. It laid out 7 positions, an improvement from the previous 2, and established how these members would be elected. Because this was all so new and we had a drop in membership from graduating members, we decided to appoint via a consensus of those helping to write the bylaws, with the intent that next season (now this season) would begin the new process.
While we had no protocol in place for the events that have taken place (COVID-19, incase someone is reading this 10 years into the future and it is nothing but a distant memory), we didn’t let that hinder the process. Instead, we moved it online. After gathering a tremendous group willing to step up and lead, we began the process of voting. To ensure everyone was given a fair chance, and not dependent on who was running against them, we did ranked voting and ranked positions. This allowed any member to sign up for up to three positions, and they would be elected to the highest ranked position they won. Furthermore, when voting choices would be ranked from favorite to least favorite. After collecting all the votes via online forum and some speed computations, our leadership committee was announced. And thus, I an excited to announce these 7 members representing our leadership committee for the 2020/2021 season!
President: Lawton Skaling
My name is Lawton Skaling. I am going into my 4th season of FRC and my 5th year of FIRST participation. I am interested in holding a leadership position because I believe my dedication, experience, and versatility can lead our team to success this next season and beyond. This past season, I have shown my dedication through my immense time commitment to this team. I had the highest meeting attendance on the team, 100% according to the attendance log. I regularly showed up early to meetings, missed only one open lab time, and fulfilled my duty as engineering manager on the leadership committee. Not to mention the hours of work done at home, over lunch, and even late at night. Obviously, many of you know engineering is my bread and butter. I have been engineering manager (or the equivalent title) for two years, and am active in all aspects of building, from design, CAD, prototyping, testing, assembling, and more. However, I am also deeply involved in all other aspects of our team. I program in Java for FTC and have taken a year-long college level Java based computer science class, along with programming the tank-bot for a summer project. I actively engage in all of FRC’s social media platforms. On our blog I have written 13 posts, the second most of any member on our team. I have been involved in many outreach efforts with the third highest outreach attendance, and have contributed to the Riley Robot project by writing, narrating, and helping to illustrate a book of my own. I was previously safety captain for a season, performed the duties of secretary before we elected one at the beginning of this season, and have been involved in finance, writing sponsorship letters, making thank you bags, and managing order forms for purchasing robot supplies. I will be the first to admit I am far from perfect. There are skills I could work on, and experience I have yet to gain. However I have an uncontainable enthusiasm for robotics, unwavering commitment to this team, and unparalleled scope of knowledge. I’ve had aspirations of becoming this team’s president since joining the team kickoff day of 2018, as a naïve freshman looking to better myself and make a difference to this team. Through thick and thin I have put off homework, extracurriculars, friendships, and sleep to help the team, and I don’t regret a second of it. Becoming FRC 568’s president will be a tremendous opportunity for personal growth, and a tremendous opportunity for our team’s growth. Thank you for considering me for your team president.
Vice President: Alex Lintelman
My name is Alex Lintelman, and I have been apart of the FRC team 568 the Nerds of the North for three seasons. I have had seven years of experience with the FIRST program. I started my FIRST journey in Elementary school where I created a Jr. FLL team. After transitioning from elementary to middle school, I helped to create an FLL team. I was apart of this team for two years until we separated to continue to high school. During my freshman year of high school, I once again helped to create an FTC team located at Dimond High School. After the lack of participants, the team came down to only two people. After the FTC state competition finish, Mr. Roach invited me to join the FRC team. I quickly found my place in the team, which mainly revolved around the seniors. After the senior class of 2018 graduated, Mr. Roach put me into the role of a lead electrician. I have taken information from previous members and mentors on techniques and information that they learned during their lives. It was a struggle to learn the position, but I learned through trial and error, but now I feel like I have learned all the basic information and am continuing to become better every year. Outside of robotics, I help operate a family dairy located in Alaska. Many of the things I have learned while working with multiple different people is to be respectful of their opinions, how to become a better leader, and how to operate with multiple different individuals. After seeing many years of captains of the team graduate and go into college, and I am ready to take on the position of president. I have shown hard work and dedication whether it is at outreach events or building the robot. Throughout the three years of being on the team, I have taken most of my time away from school and put it towards robotics. Whenever there is an opportunity for me to help out the team, I am always there to lend a hand. I have been to almost all of the outreach events, only skipping a couple over a three year period. Most time I have the responsibility of transporting the robot. Looking back on previous years and seeing how our team has operated, I have had multiple different ideas on how our team can become more like a worldwide corporation and how to better benefit every member’s experience while on the team. I am ready to take on a larger responsibility on the team. Thank you for your consideration for the position of president of FRC team 568.
Engineer Manager: Matthew Johnson
My name is Matthew Johnson. I have participated in FIRST for about 4 years and 2 years of FRC. Next year, I will be a junior and have been the lead programmer as a freshman and a sophomore. Currently, I hold the position as secretary. I have attended most meetings and with juggling comp hockey and the hour long drive to Anchorage, I’ve done my best to do and attend outreach events. As engineering manager, I hope to have each engineering department work together more seamlessly. Also next year, I will be going to school out of state and won’t be there in person, but I will be there virtually. Having a leadership position as a virtual member will allow me to take a step back and look at the big picture for the needs of Team 568’s engineering department.
Business Manager: Taylor Hackart
My name is Taylor Heckart, I’ll be a senior next year, and this past season was my first with the team. Though my time with the team so far has been short, the amount that I have been able to accomplish in business has been impactful. In my current role I have had a hand in many of the jobs the business team performs, including social media management, collecting photos and videos of outreach events, video creation, blog post writing and publishing, and assisting with the Chairman’s award. This gives me the broad perspective of the range business covers needed to properly fulfill the role required as business manager. Coming into this role with an understanding of the important role business plays and an enthusiasm for the job is vital. The team’s public face is just as important as the creation of the robots themselves when it comes to connecting to our local and global audiences. I understand this, and intend to treat the job with the motivation and communication required to maintain our public face and relationships, and work to strengthen it even further.I have leadership experience working in collaborative environments. For the past two years I have been a part of an organization where I help create, organize, and lead community events and presentations, giving me insight about how to best lead a group of youth in the most effective and cohesive manner.
Treasurer: Alec Norton
My name is Alec, I’m 16 years old, and will be a junior next year. I feel like I would be good for the leadership committee as I’m really good with people and solving conflicts. I’ve lived in many different places, and I’ve traveled to so many other places, and so I can relate to a large spectrum of people. I’m good at organizing, and I’m constantly pushing myself to learn something new!
Secretary: Eric Marshall
My name is Eric Marshall, I’ve been a part of FRC team 568 for three years. My FIRST career started in fifth grade with FLL until I aged out of the program. In my last year of FLL I found Nerds Of North and joined as a nerdlet. My second year, I was part of the build team, but also worked on other projects such as the robot reveal video. Last season, I was the safety captain for the team. I ensuring the use of safety glasses at all times and regular safety inspections. Next year I will be a Junior and so I would like to throw my name in the hat for vice president.
Safety Captain: Toya Takaheshi
I have been on FRC team 568 for 2 years as a programmer and on FTC team 16660 for a year as the lead programmer and nominated as captain for the 2020-2021 FTC season. Although I couldn’t actively participate in outreach events last year due to other after-school activities I was participating in, I plan on engaging in more team events and meetings for my enthusiasm for robotics. As mentioned before, I am a part of this team and my FTC team mainly as a programmer, therefore I am able to program using Java as well as other languages such as Javascript and Swift. This team has made me more passionate about programming and robotics in general, and by attaining in one of the leadership positions, I would like to further participate and make a difference for this team.
