2010 Volunteers

The most integral part of any FIRST team is the dedication of its volunteers. Whether those volunteers come from business, higher education, their own volition, or are school teachers, they provide the foundation necessary for any FIRST team.

Here at WBI 461, we feel an especially close relationship with our mentors, volunteers, and coaches. The dedication of our team teachers and advisors is unparalleled elsewhere on our team. Moreover, due to our close proximity to a world famous engineering university, Purdue, we have the unique opportunity to work with university students and faculty. Indeed, many of the student mentors for WBI 461 from Purdue were either members of our team or other FIRST teams around the country. Browse below to learn more about our volunteers.

Teachers

Steve Florence

Steve "Flo" Florence is a teacher at West Lafayette High School. He has been teaching since 1975. Mr. Florence has been involved with WBI since it began in 1999. He dedicates much of his time to Team 461 by attending all of the team meetings almost every day during the build season. Mr. Florence is always pushing the team to do its best. His dedication to the team won him Chief Delphi's Unsung FIRST Hero award in February 2005. He also won the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award, the highest regional level award for an individual to receive, at the 2006 Buckeye Regional and the Outstanding Volunteer of the Year Award at the 2006 Boilermaker Regional.

George Chiu

George Chiu is an associate professor in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. Professor Chiu has been involved with WBI since 2000 and was a founding member of the team. This year, Professor Chiu serves as an engineering consultant for our team.

Dan Sommerville

Dan Sommerville is the P-12 Outreach Coordinator for Engineering Education.  Dan's first season working with Purdue FIRST Programs was the 2008-2009 school year.

Local Community

Jorge Saenz

Jorge Saenz is an independent mechanical engineer. Mr. Saenz was Team 461's driver during the rookie season. He was a technical advisor for WBI in 2001 and 2002. He returned to WBI this year after helping the team at Lafayette Jefferson High School, Precision Guessworks. Mr. Saenz currently helps WBI build the robot.

Purdue Students

Boiler Invasion wouldn't be what it is if it weren't for the Purdue students who help us every meeting.  This page is a thanks to everybody who invests their time in helping the WLHS students, whether the project deals with building the robot, website creation, animation, or outreach initiatives.