The Impact of Great Teachers and Mentors

This is a story about the relationship and impact of a high school teacher and FTC Mentor and one of his students and team members. As an FTC team Mentor, I've heard various perspectives of this story from the teacher, the student, and both parents, over the course of the last three years.

Tyler spent his first three years of high school dreaming of becoming a professional snowboarder. His focus on snowboarding detracted from his schoolwork and he didn't find an academic interest or passion beyond snowboarding.

Unfortunately, Tyler's snowboarding skills didn't quite match his dreams.

Tyler's schoolwork, or lack thereof, left him in a precarious position regarding grades and college prospects. At the beginning of his senior year, he found himself in Mr. Schildknecht's Physics class. Unlike any course before, the problem solving and nature of Physics captured Tyler's interest along with a growing respect and camaraderie with Mr. Schildknecht.

As it turns out, Mr. Schildknecht was also the Coach and Mentor for the high school FTC robotics program. At Mr. Schildknecht's suggestion, Tyler joined the team and by the end of his senior year became one of the leaders of Team Innovo, a highly regarded and successful team in the region.

Tyler dedicated his house to the team for countless design, build, and test sessions long after the allotted practices at the high school had ended. Tyler's focus and passion had clearly grown beyond snowboarding - along with a dream.

During this time, Tyler's grades and academic interests also matured and he was accepted to a physics program at a state college. Tyler excelled in college during his freshman year and led his college's initiative to acquire a 3D printer to further support his physics and engineering interests.

Tyler has now transferred to an even better college to pursue further interests in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering and is considering a career as a teacher himself.

This video of Tyler's latest engineering endeavor is a great example of his ingenuity


Tyler and I remain in contact and he recently told me that he’ll

“never forget how much of an impact this team had on me, and I hope to relive the experience later on in my engineering career.”

Tyler went on to credit FTC and Mr. Schildknecht:

“they had a huge impact on me and ultimately confirmed that I wanted to be an engineer.”

Great teachers like Mr. Schildknecht use platforms such as FTC to inspire, educate, and shape the interests and dreams of students - this is yet another glorious example of the powerful results that occur when programs like FTC are combined with passionate Mentors and students.