May 6 2015
FIRST Robotics taught Emily Poirier of Team 217 (Thunder Chickens) about the importance of “working as a team and thinking on your feet.” It will also help her to pay for college as she is one of 44 high school students who received a FIRST Robotics Scholarship to attend Kettering University in 2015.
Bob Nichols, director of Kettering University's FIRST Robotics Community Center, with four of this year's scholarship recipients.
“I went to some of the competitions as a kid and I saw how exciting the competitions were and I started to get involved,” Poirier said.
Poirier’s robotics team represents the Utica Community Schools in Macomb County. As a junior in high school, Poirier worked in the public relations and marketing department for the team and as senior she was promoted to Vice-President of the Thunder Chickens. She plans on studying Mechanical Engineering with a specialty in Bioengineering at Kettering and will be completing her co-op at Magna Seating in Novi.
Since 1999, Kettering has awarded more than $2 million in scholarships to participants in FIRST. In 2014, Kettering received a nearly $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to continue to support academically talented robotics students.
Drew Sedam of Team #2137 (TORC) based out of Oxford, is also a recipient of a FIRST Robotics Scholarship and will attend Kettering already having experiences with computer-aided design (CAD) programs. As a senior, Sedam was the CAD Team Captain and the driver of the robot. Sedan will major in electrical engineering at Kettering and complete his co-op at BorgWarner in Auburn Hills.
“I chose Kettering because I really love the co-op program,” Sedam said. “Being able to get two-and-a-half years of experience before graduating college is huge.”
2015 Kettering University FIRST Robotics Scholarship Winners:
- Derek Gee - Team #217: Thunder Chickens
- Emily Poirier - Team #217: Thunder Chickens
- Ronnie Sherrer - Team #314: Big MO
- Zachary Moore - Team #503: Frog Force
- Bradley Henry - Team #1023: Bedford Express
- Sean Bleicher - Team #1322: G.R.A.Y.T. Leviathons
- Donovan Porter - Team #67: The HOT Team
- Hannah Moore - Team #1711: Raptors
- Benjamin Kastner - Team #2075: Enigma Robotics
- Zachary Walls - Team #2337: EngiNERDs
- Tyler Baker - Team #1506: Metal Muscle
- Andrew Luchenbach - Team #27: Team RUSH
- Logan Luttrell - Team #862: Lightning Robotics
- John Lloyd - Team #5114: Titanium Tigers
- Emily Dunkel - Team #5216: E-ville Empire
- Daniel Castro - Team #33: Killer Bees
- Brandon Potts - Team #4130: The Blue Devils
- Nathan Schleh - Team #4362: Gems
- David Jann - Team #4405: The Atoms Family
- Matthew Schafer - Team #1918: NC Gears
- Connor Lowery - Team #3137: T-Birds
- Evan Mince - Team #2137: TORC
- Drew Sedam - Team #2137: TORC
- Sawyer Blais - Team #95: Upper Valley Robotics
- Rebecca Roughton - Team #302: The Lake Orion Dragons
- Brendan Young - Team #703: Phoenix
- Adam Blocker - Team #772: Caveman with Rock
- Wyatt Kastl - Team #815: Advanced Power
- Isabel Barbosa-Rios - Team #815: Advanced Power
- Jacquelynn Gillie - Team #894: Powers Chargers
- Karla Kemp - Team #1504: Desperate Penguins
- Brian Boehm - Team #2175: Fighting Calculators
- Madeleine Logeais - Team #2177: The Robettes
- Lauren Pudvan - Team #2410: Blue Valley CAPS Metal Mustang Robotics
- David Baas - Team #2771: Code Red Robotics/Stray Dogs
- Carl Pickl - Team #3138: Innovators Robotics
- Mariah Titsworth - Team #3534: House of Cards
- Breahna Snay - Team #3667: Mecanum Knights
- Mckensie Winn - Team #5090: Torque-Nados
- Dylan Brewer - Team #5150: Hornets
- Keaton Weingartz - Team #5167: Vi-Bots
- Andrew Damiani - Team #5214: Mighty CavBots
- Dakota Hage - Team #5235: Gears of Fortune
- Henry Velasquez - Team #5473: Team Spitfire
- Jeff Ayling - Team #5524: Nerds With Attitude