Whidbey Island Robotics Club

Alfonso Alfonso (yes, this is not a typo), is a 16-year old high school student attending Oak Harbor High School. He is in eleventh grade and this is his first year in Robotics at Oak Harbor. He wanted to join the robotics team because he already knew a good amount on the team and he realized that it would be fun to learn more about robotics and be on a team with all the robotics kids. He has a personal connection to the robotics team in that he has interests in robotics and this would be a good start for him. His role on the team is to aid the team in anyway possible, anyway he knows how which is also his goal for the season. After high school, I plan to move back to California for college.

Orleen Araullo is at age 17. He is a senior at Oak Harbor High School. He has attended a total of 4 years of FIRST®, 1 year FLL® and 3 years of FTC® and FRC®. He joined the team because he was interested in being able to make a difference in the world, so he wanted to learn where he could start. After he saw all the special community projects the team did, he knew this was the perfect place for him. Since he’s been in Robotics for so long, he has grown many deep friendships with his mentors and peers. He is the team leader for FTC® (and hopefully FRC®), he helps his underclassmen in the basics of engineering and manufacturing. He wishes that his team will be able to reach worlds this year and that his team will bond as a family. After highschool, he wants to attend University of Washington and earn a bachelor's in Computer Science, which will hopefully earn him a job in Software Design or something of the sort.

Julia Beumer is a junior at Oak Harbor High School, and this is her second year in robotics. She joined the team, because a good percentage of her friends were on the team and looked like they were enjoying themselves. Another reason she joined was she wanted to develop comprehension in a subject she was weak in, which would strengthen her knowledge base. Her goal for this year is to become more technically advanced and to contribute more to the artistic part of the team. She would like to be a publisher, a classics scholar, or a librarian when she actually gets a career. Julia is part of the OHHS choir program, and she enjoys other performing arts, like theater.

Gabriel Cacho is a junior at Oak Harbor High School. He has had an interested in robots since middle school. This is Gabe’s thirdyear in both  FTC and FRC. He joined robotics because Mr.Edoga told him about robotics and he really liked it. Robotics has made him a hard worker since he joined. His is the the team mascot and on pit crew. Gabe’s future goal after high school is to join the Navy.  

Marcus Carman is a junior at Oak Harbor High School and has been a part of FIRST© for five years. He started with a year in FLL, continued on for two years of FTC, and two years ago joined FRC. He is mentoring three FLL teams at the nearby middle school. Marcus joined because a friend was joining and he enjoyed building with Legos. He enjoys learning how technology works and can be used. Last year, he took up the role of Lead Electronics Engineer. Marcus would like to learn the programming languages used by the team as the lead programmer graduated at the end of last year. After graduating, he plans to go to college and graduate with a degree in mechanical or electrical engineering.

Thomas Carman is a 14 year old high school freshmen at Oak Harbor High School. He has done a year of FLL and this is his second year of FTC and FRC. He joined the team because his family was on the team. HE is a part of the FTC electronics group. He wants to learn more about wiring and electronics to help him become an electrical or mechanical engineer.

Logan Fowler is a 14 year old freshman at Oak Harbor High School. He has been in FLL for one year. He joined the team because it sounded interesting and tied a lot of his interests together. His personal connection to robotics is his love of all things technology. His role is building and a programmer in training. His personal goals are to learn to code in Java and learn more about the general idea of robotics. After graduation, he hopes to follow a career in IT or Computer Science.

Liam Gore is a 16 year old junior at Oak Harbor High School. He is in his fourth year of FTC and is in his third year of FRC. He joined the FTC team in 8th grade while he was taking the robotics class at his middle school. He liked working with the team and making parts for the robot, he decided he wanted to stay in robotics. The next year he joined the FRC team and plans to stay in it for the rest of high school. He was the cameraman and editor for the team Youtube channel last year. He is going to be the video producer for FRC this year. He wants to go to college and get a job in science or engineering.

Kelly Gruenwald is a 16 year old junior. She has participated in one year of FTC and two years of FRC. She presented and helped create the Chairman's award in the 2016 FRC year that lead the team to compete in regionals and worlds. She was on the drive team for both FTC & FRC and helped design/build both robots. She competed on the varsity team at districts on the girls swim and dive team. She also plays multiple instruments including the violin, ukulele, guitar, piano, and the harmonica.

Natalie Hahn is a Junior at Oak Harbor High School. This year marks her 3rd year in FRC and her first year mentoring an FLL team. She participated in two years of FTC and is helping with it this year. When not doing robotics-related activities, she enjoys playing clarinet. She joined the team because she became interested in engineering after touring the Bowman Factory with the robotics team. Being part of the robotics team has inspired her to pursue a career in engineering. This year, her goals are managing time well, helping the team stay on schedule during build season, and passing on knowledge to new and younger members. After high school, she hopes to be accepted to MIT or another well-known engineering college.

Logan Ince is a 16 year old junior at Oak Harbor High School. He is on his fifth year of FIRST Robotics. He spent one year in FLL, is on his fourth year of FTC, and his third of FRC. He is the Scouting Co-Captain, and has also been a chairman’s award presenter and a design leader on a concept design team. He joined robotics because he was a nerd in 7th grade and that is what nerds did. He grew from an introverted nerd who exhibited little experience with leadership, to an extroverted leader. His goals for the season include making Scouting data more helpful to the Drive Team, and to make scouting less arduous for the Scouts. He also wants to finish the Animatronic Deer for the State Wardens. He wants to attend the UW for Computer Science after High School and work in the Seattle area as a programmer after that.

Maggie Jappert is a 16 year old junior at Oak Harbor High School. She grew up around welders, programmers and engineers. This season is her third year of both FTC and FRC. Mags is the lead scout who focuses on building and maintaining relationships with other teams. She hopes to get at least as far as Regionals in FRC and improve her team’s overall public appearance. After high school, Maggie plans to attend the University of Washington and become an engineer or scientist, hopefully involved with linguistics, computer programming, engineering, or  a manager at a geothermal greenhouse in Iceland.

Taylor Johnston is a junior at Oak Harbor High School, who is starting his third year with the team. Taylor is interested in all things related to computer software, and is taking an AP computer science course at the school. Due to his interest in this field, Taylor is one of the team’s programmers, is the lead programing mentor for the FTC team, and was in charge of last year’s website. Taylor joined robotics due to friends and because of how well it fit his interests. This year he hopes to gain increased skills in programing as well becoming a better leader. After graduating Taylor hopes to attend a university and become a software engineer.

Tristen Klein is a senior at Oak Harbor High School. This is his fifth year on the team. The initial reason Tristen joined the team was to build a cool robot. Shortly after  joining the team however he learned that the team doesn’t necessarily build good robots, the team builds good people. What kept Tristen from leaving the team after that first year was a mix of his new found love for engineering stirred up by Mr. Edoga, as well as his desire to become a better person. In his second year Tristen was thrown into a few leadership position and decided to not just better himself but others as well. He tries his best to be a servant-leader. Tristen’s goals for the season are to help the people on the team become better, better himself, and finally get the tricycle done. His plans for after high school is to go to an engineering school and help improve the world through what he’s good at engineering. He was nominated for the Dean's List Award in his junior year.

Belinda Larcena is a junior attending OHHS. This is her second year in robotics, and she originally joined robotics because the people around herself gently persuaded her to join. Now she can never leave, but someday she hopes to attend a four-year college.

Holly Lewis is 15 year old sophomore who goes to Oak Harbor High school. This is her second year in robotics. She joined the team in hopes of learning more about engineering and technology. She is the current safety captain on the team and has goals to keep the team safe and to learn more about electronics this year. Her future career goals are to go into the field of engineering and mechanics.

My Name is Samantha Lingerfelt. I am 16 years old and going to graduate in the year of 2019. I am currently attending Oak Harbor High School. I have never been on a FLL, FTC or FRC team before but I am very excited to start on the FTC and FRC team this year. The reason I joined the robotics club is because I thought it would be a new and exciting experience for me because I would love to find out how robots work and are built. My personal connection with robots is that I have always been interested in how robots are built, how they work and why they were built that way. This probably doesn’t connect with robotics but I love this game called Five Nights at Freddy’s and it’s about these robot animatronics that look like animals and one game has them looking like people with makeup like a clown. They come to life at night and it seems like they are like real people instead of robots but they can’t actually talk (except in the 6th game).  I already know all of their names and the reason why they come to life, but you can say I’m interested to find out more why they can move and function without a human telling them what to do.  For example, in the sixth game there is a animatronic named Baby who looks like a girl clown makeup with orange pigtails and a red dress. She can talk and interact with you, she can see you, she has functions that let her blow up balloons up with helium using her fingertips, she can make ice cream then give it to you and she has a storage tank inside her stomach with some kind of claw to grab and storage things. I am very interested in how she does all of that. My team role is to help build parts for robots and design the robot using animation. My personal goals for this year is to successfully build functioning robots and make it to competitions.  My future goals for education are to graduate high school and go to college and go to either robotics, culinary or movie editing classes and graduate with that type of degree.  

Braedon McMahan is a junior at Oak Harbor High School in his second year or robotics. He joined the club because he was curious about what it was like and to get more involved with the school for future references. He has a few friends that were in robotics 2015-2016 and knowing they had gone to the World Competition, he was very interested to get involved with a great team. Braedon helps everyone and often builds important parts of the robot. His personal goals for the season is to meet and be comfortable with everyone on the team. Also another goal of his is to help as best as he can to get the team back to the World Championships. A career goal for him is to get scholarships for being in robotics and go to college and possibly train to be a U.S. Navy engineer.

Isaac Miller is a 15 year old in his sophomore year of Oak Harbor High School. This is his second year in FTC and FRC. He first joined robotics because it sounded like a fun and educational extra curricular club. He has made many connections to people in robotics and has acquired lots of new knowledge about robotics, engineering and math. Last year, he was a coach in FTC and a scout in FRC. This year in FRC, he hopes to be on pit crew or even drive team. He hopes to have a profession in the chemistry or biology fields after graduation. He likes chinese food, cats, and playing his clarinet.

Caitlin O’Brien is a 17-year-old junior at Oak Harbor High School. This is her first year participating in FTC®. She joined the team in order to spend time learning new things and working on projects to help the community. Her friends have done robotics in previous years and convinced her to join as well. She enjoys working on art projects for the team. Her personal goal for the season is to learn new skills in the STEM field. After high school, she would like to attend a four-year college and seminary in order to become a pastor.

Eli Paul is a 17 year old Senior, attending Oak Harbor High School. This is his 5h year doing Ftc, and will soon be his 4th in FRC. Last year he mentored a Fll team at Hillcrest Elementary School. He joined the team because he was interested in Robotics, and technology. His role on the team is a builder, and he is part of the drive team. When he grows up, he wants to be a aerospace engineer at NASA.

Zachary Puls is a sophomore in Oak Harbor High School. This is his second year in Robotics, having gone to both FTC and FRC in his first year. He joined the team because of his interest in programming and construction, but has no experience with robotics from before his first year. He hopes to fall into a more defined role instead of just being a general helper.

Phakaporn Rangsanseri or we can call her as Fon. She is 17 years old exchange student from Thailand. She just interested in robotics for couple years. Then she joined the robotics club and sign in for FTC 2017 to have more knowledge about robotics, has some new friends, and know how team works for competition. Even though she didn’t know much about it, she helped the team to make some part by having club’s member teach her how to do. After graduated, she want to get scholarship to study college in America and learn about computer and software that she is interested.

Bio coming soon!

Matthew Rosencrans is sixteen year old junior who is a member of the 2019 graduating class at Oak Harbor High School. He has been in FTC for two years and mentored it for one and currently this year, he is also mentoring a FLL team at his local middle school. He has been in FRC for one year. He joined the high school's robotics team because he has always been interested in engineering, science, and math. Being apart of this team has been his favorite part of school with it’s deep sense of community and greatly stimulating activities and projects. This program has opened him up to numerous possibilities for the future. His team role is assisting in manufacturing and design as well as leading parts of the award team. This season he hopes to create a well organized team and get everyone involved. After high school he plans on going to a university and study engineering physics involving fusion energy and propulsion systems.

Isaac Schulz is a 13 year old 8th grader at North Whidbey Middle School. He has been in FLL for one year and is on his first year of FTC. He joined the team because he likes programming and robotics. He has a little Mbot robot of his own the he has worked with. He doesn’t really have a team role. He just goes around helping people. His goal for the season is to learn and master java (if possible). His future goal is to be in the coding or computer software bu

Mason Scoggin is a 16 year old junior at Oak Harbor High School. He only joined the team for the 2016 FRC season, so this is his first FTC and second FRC season. He joined the team back in 2016 because it was a great opportunity for him to spend time with friends but also to learn applied engineering concept that can help him for life. On the team, he mostly works with programming and electronics, being the lead in this years FTC season, and also does most of the research on applications of new pieces of equipment. This year he hopes to better master Java for both FTC and FRC and be an award presenter. After high school, he plans to go to college on a ROTC scholarship.

Gabriel Sheck is a sophomore at Oak Harbor High School. This is his second year for both FTC® and FRC®. He plans to take on new tasks in the team. He joined the team out of curiosity, he soon enjoyed all aspects of FIRST® and the club. From an early age, Gabe had an unmatched affection for Legos and the small lab kits you buy at the store. So he explored all the options by going to various camps. Gabe has far too many favorite foods to list, the same follows for music. Gabriel plans to pursue a career in science, possible options are engineering and/or a physical science.

Luke Spencer is a 16 year old sophomore at Oak Harbor High School. This is his second FTC season and he has participated in one season of FRC. He joined the team because he is interested in a career in a robotics field. In the team he spends most of his time making parts and solving problems with sub-systems. This season he hopes to further his knowledge of electronics to prepare himself for future endeavors.

Peter Spencer is a ninth grade student at Oak Harbor High School. He chose to do robotics because his brother did it and he thought it sounded interesting and fun. His personal connection to robotics is his liking of robots and what they can do. He helps build the robot and this is his first year of robotics. His goal is to learn a lot about robotics and to have fun. He hopes to be an engineer in the future.

Nick Valles is a junior at Oak Harbor High School and this is his third year in FIRST© Robotics. In freshman year he had ended with almost all A grades and plans on continuing that throughout high school. In addition to FTC,  he is taking Honors and AP classes, and plans to go to a 4-year university after high school. Nick joined robotics because he was tired of sports and wanted to move on to something else. His friends and teachers recommended robotics, so he ended up joining both FTC and FTC. Nick helps anyone who needs it, and is able to do almost any task given to him. He does not have a specific job, but wants to learn as much as possible. Nick wants to pursue career wise as a computer engineer or programmer when he is older.

Tian Yu is a ninth grade student at oak harbor high school. The reason he is in the robotics club is because he loves robotics and want to learn more things about robots. This is his the first year of robotics. I am learning Java Scripts so later I can programming for the robots. My goal for this season is to learning things and be useful to the team. After I graduate I may continue to learn coding.

Marianne Borozny is the website and media mentor for Wildcat Robotics. She has worked as a nutrition educator, teacher, school mental health counselor, jewelry designer, photographer, and now a web designer. Marianne loves all things design and how humans interact with their built and natural environment. Her favorite things to teach relate to the invention process, creative writing, art, design, and the scientific method. Marianne sees the arts and science as an integrated whole; “what if” moments, risk taking, and discovery unify both bodies of study. She is passionate about art, photography, architecture, the environment, the future of education, and health. Currently she is designing websites and developing a family cooking book and blog with two friends. Marianne’s classics and humanities-loving daughter, Julia, joined the team last year.

Mrs. Carman is a teacher and parent. As she volunteered in her sons’ elementary classrooms, she learned the joy that comes when a student finds something to love about school. This led her to build off her Bachelors of Arts in Creative Writing and Psychology by earning her Masters of Arts in Secondary Education and become a high school English teacher so she could share her love of reading and inspire a love of learning in her students. As an educator, Mrs. Carman believes reading and writing skills are keys to success because in our online, social media world, reading and writing skills allow students to communicate their ideas effectively and understand the ideas of others. As a first time parent of a member of The Whidbey Island Wildcats during the 2015-2016 FRC season, she saw a need for committed mentors and began helping the team. Mrs. Carman’s focus is helping the team communicate their ideas through their writing. She hopes to embody a motto of The Whidbey Island Wildcats: “We don’t build robots; we build people”.

Mr. Edoga is an artist, roboticists, futurist, naturalist, and educator.   He has served as a science and robotics teacher for more than 10 years, and as the lead mentor for FIRST team 2980, The Whidbey Island Wildcats, and FIRST team 7676. Edoga also works as a multi-media artist and kinetic sculptor, combining his love of education and art. Edoga has written an educational book on robotics “The Life of a Robot Named Plooby”. He and his robotics students were featured on a Discovery Channel documentary in 2005, and have won several awards for robotics and science over the past several years. Edoga's creations continue to appear in robotics magazines. Edoga earned his Masters of Fine Arts at California Institute of the Arts, and his bachelor's at Skidmore college. There he found his voice as a musician and composer. For the past twenty years he has worked on a solo music project called “The Dark Backwards” in which he is the only live musician. Edoga sees his robotic creations as an outward expression of his inner interpretation of the world. He once said, “I dream of making a computer that can make music that can make a person cry.” He believes that by building his robots by hand, he somehow imbues them with a part of himself.

Gary Thayer was raised on a small range in the hill country of Wyoming.  When equipment broke you had to solve the problem yourself because help was too far away.  His father could fix anything and often did.  If a carefully milled part cracked, dad was able to weld it straight; if a car needed a new transmission, it went into his shop; and if a cow struggled to give birth, he could do a caesarean to deliver the calf.  Gary's dad valued education.  He worked tirelessly to ensure that his children had the opportunity to go to college.   While Gary values his biology and chemistry degrees, he also cultivates the skills to build things that work, and fix them again when they break.

Gary's early experiences with practical applications of knowledge are why he works with future engineers, scientists, teachers, business and communications leaders of tomorrow by working with Oak Harbor Wildcat Robotics.  He understands that it is sometimes the simple solutions overlooked by others that solve problems.  His moment of fame in Time Magazine was the result of solving an emergency problem.  At age 13 he made a funnel with aluminium foil when adults around him had not been able to find a solution to a problem.

His research experience includes working on the first Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer right here in Washington state, and Rooftop Tardigrada Population Analysis on North and South Facing Rooftops in the Walla Walla wine growing country.  His is a National Board Certified Science Teacher, and has been making science happen for over 33 years.  Fourteen of those years have been at Oak Harbor High School.  He is a proud father and grandfather.  His favourite quote is from his children:  "dad knows everything, but if he doesn't, he will make up something plausible."