During our 2019 season, our robot encountered a problem. While our mechanisms worked without any crucial flaws, our robot was rattling itself loose, with nuts falling off bolts. While our engineers frantically searched for solutions, Brian Mendoza recommended something simple: painting a line over the nuts and bolts. If the line was crooked, the team knew they needed to tighten the bolt.
Room 604 is Brian’s second home; for 7 days and 50 hours a week, he demonstrates his expertise and tireless effort, through all levels of FIRST. He’s organized 34 FIRST competitions, even hosting FLL and FTC meets simultaneously to strengthen our club’s model of the FIRST pipeline. During competitions, he encourages students to pursue the sciences by hosting organizations like NASA-JPL to teach students about future careers. At events, he is in on the action: reffing, judging, strategizing, and cheering on the teams. In the summer, he hosts an FLL camp for elementary kids. He’s done everything from planning STEAM events at elementary schools to planning and driving students to fundraising at music in the park events, to attending our Python classes. Through his relentless commitment to Room 604, Brian has not only made it his home but also a home for the SoCal FIRST community.
This year, Brian noticed several students with a passion for engineering, but not robotics. Striving to create a place for everyone in our shop, he implemented a new STEAM program called RIDE, where students collaborate to design and build a functional roller coaster model alongside a physics simulation and themed landscape. RIDE spans multiple engineering fields while also incorporating elements of architecture, physics, and design, following Brian’s desire to make robotics fun.
Brian’s leadership has proved to be the most valuable asset of our club. He has led over 127 cabinet meetings, helping the club restructure and grow in difficult times after our previous club advisor retired. It is clear to the whole team that Brian keeps us together in hard times. Brian helped the team create a 501c3, enabling donors and sponsors to easily support the club, and began selling merch on our website that he manages. To streamline communication, he created a text message system, a private club email for club members, and introduced our CRM service, HelloClub, so we can stay up-to-date no matter where we are.
When we are taking a break from building, he will be there to discuss whatever– from flavors of ice cream to aspects of our life. He’s always asking, “Are you having fun yet?,” a reminder that even if things are tough now, they will be much more fun later.
In an FRC meeting, former club treasurer Kourosh explained that “Brian is like the stick that you put next to the tree, so the tree can grow straight and tall.” Brian has consistently put effort into the club to allow us to become better versions of ourselves through the ideals of FIRST– not just better engineers, but better people.