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Members & Mentors

Captains

Zoe Bush

  • Position:  Vice Captain
  • Grade:  9
  • Hobbies:  Reading and music
  • Favorite Character:  Alizeh
  • Reason for joining:  I don’t know
  • Future Goals:  Finish all the books

Captains

Gavin West

  • Position:  Team Captain
  • Grade:  12
  • Hobbies:  Building things, playing video games.
  • Favorite Robot:  BD-1 From Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order/Survivor
  • Reason for joining:  My sister roped me in right out of Middle School, and I wanted to build things.
  • Future Goals:  Going into some form of Mechanical Engineering Field.

Captains

Grayson Etter

  • Position:  Team Captain
  • Grade:  11
  • Hobbies:  Gaming, DND, Tennis, Skiing.
  • Favorite Robot:  -Rho
  • Reason for joining:  -Wanted to learn code, all I got was this T-shirt.
  • Future Goals:  Go to college for Comsci
  • Quote:"Debugging is like being the detective in a crime movie where you are also the murderer."

Captains

Lita Brady

  • Position:  Vice Captain
  • Grade:  12
  • Hobbies:  Creating, Music + Arts, Mechanics, Reading.
  • Favorite Robot:  Ultron
  • Reason for joining:  I was dragged unwillingly.
  • Future Goals:  Work towards creating sustainable energy and integrate clean hydrogen energy into everyday use to eliminate extreme carbon emissions.
  • Quote:"Why is Cougartech kinda good this year?"

Directors

Abby Lange

  • Position:  Operations Director
  • Grade:  12
  • Hobbies:  I play tennis, I am a Percussionist, I scrapbook, and I babysit
  • Favorite Robot:  My Rumba
  • Favorite Character:  Flinn Rider
  • Reason for joining:  I had been involved in FIRST since 3rd grade and both my parents are mentors on the team. Therefore FIRST has always been a part of my life.
  • Future Goals:  I want to attend college for Early Childhood Education to eventually become a UPK Teacher.
  • Quote:"My brain is not braining" -Mady Etter

Directors

Caleb Youngblut

  • Position:  Technical Director
  • Grade:  12
  • Hobbies:  Soccer, skiing, golf, and tennis
  • Favorite Robot:  Bender
  • Reason for joining:  Because I knew people on the team
  • Future Goals:  To go to college for engineering

Directors

Isaac Yaddaw

  • Position:  Project Manager
  • Grade:  11
  • Hobbies:  Watching survivor
  • Favorite Robot:  Zamboni
  • Reason for joining:  Tax right offs.
  • Future Goals:  Expanding my ball knowledge.
  • Quote:“That's money $” Scottie

Directors

Luke Sessa-Simmonds

  • Position:  Operations Director
  • Grade:  10
  • Hobbies:  Reading books, videogames, mountain biking, hiking
  • Favorite Robot:  GLaDOS
  • Favorite Character:  Ryu
  • Reason for joining:  One day I decided I wanted to do stuff with websites now here I am.
  • Future Goals:  College
  • Quote:"Dark humor is like food, not everybody gets it" - Joseph Stalin, probably

Mechanical

Keegan Brace

  • Position:  Member
  • Grade:  9
  • Hobbies:  Art, DnD, theater
  • Favorite Robot:  Boston Dynamics: Spot
  • Favorite Character:  King (The Owl House)
  • Reason for joining:  I’m interested in going into engineering fields for a job and know many people on the team
  • Future Goals:  Go to college, own a house

Mechanical

Yael Hirschman

  • Position:  Member
  • Grade:  9
  • Hobbies:  Painting
  • Favorite Character:  Newt from maze runner
  • Reason for joining:  I was interested in building robots
  • Future Goals:  Learn more history

Mechanical

Blake Maddaleno

  • Position:  Member
  • Grade:  9
  • Hobbies:  Crocheting and gaming and skiing
  • Favorite Robot:  Spot the robot dog
  • Favorite Character:  Spider-Man
  • Reason for joining:  For fun
  • Future Goals:  Get into a good college and become an aerospace engineer

Mechanical

Jacob Stromeyer

  • Position:  Member
  • Grade:  12
  • Hobbies:  I fly gas and electric rc planes, body building, and making models
  • Favorite Robot:  Sigma
  • Reason for joining:  Because it sounded fun and wanted to be with my friends, I also wanted to learn more about robotics
  • Future Goals:  Be a pilot for aircrafts for Air Force or Aerospace Engineering

Mechanical

Oliver Tripicano

  • Position:  Member
  • Grade:  9
  • Hobbies:  Playing instruments, mainly saxophone.
  • Favorite Character:  Cristina Yang (Grey’s Anatomy)
  • Reason for joining:  Went to the showcase at burger and thought it would be fun and interesting to be on the team.
  • Future Goals:  I want to work in the medical field.

Mechanical

Mady Etter

  • Position:  Member
  • Grade:  12
  • Hobbies:  Swimming, reading, science, and tennis
  • Favorite Robot:  RhoBot
  • Reason for joining:  Bribery and it was fun.
  • Future Goals:  Go to college for nursing, then work as a nurse in either the ER or and ICU
  • Quote:"Its actually insane what shots you can hit when you believe you can hit them"

Mechanical

Alex Heywood

  • Position:  Member
  • Grade:  12

Mechanical

Ethan Shum

  • Position:  Member
  • Grade:  12
  • Hobbies:  Harassing my brother and video games
  • Favorite Robot:  Terminator
  • Reason for joining:  My brother was here
  • Future Goals:  Not a single clue

Mechanical

Sam Roth

  • Position:  Member
  • Grade:  12

Mechanical

Adrian Wu

  • Position:  Mechanical Lead
  • Grade:  12
  • Hobbies:  Art
  • Favorite Robot:  Wall-E
  • Favorite Character:  Chandler bing
  • Reason for joining:  Old member told me about the team
  • Future Goals:  College

Mechanical

Bryson Will

  • Position:  Member
  • Grade:  10
  • Hobbies:  Rc cars and fishing.
  • Reason for joining:  Hands on projects
  • Future Goals:  Being an auto mechanic.

Mechanical

Michael DeFranco

  • Position:  Member
  • Grade:  9
  • Hobbies:  Blacksmithing, wood working, small engine mechanics, gaming and building.
  • Favorite Robot:  the old Cougartech parade bot
  • Reason for joining:  because i liked FLL and enjoy caff.. working with my hands
  • Future Goals:  To be a tradesman and work to make money to live comfortably.
  • Quote:"do something, idk" somebody

Mechanical

Willow Glanville

  • Position:  Mechanical Lead
  • Grade:  9
  • Hobbies:  Reading (comics), art/drawing, writing (fiction), video games (Minecraft, Postal, Borderlands, etc)
  • Favorite Robot:  FL4K
  • Favorite Character:  Handsome Jack from Borderlands (all time
  • Reason for joining:  Robots are cool, I like building stuff, great team/community, I actually socialize outside of school, etc
  • Future Goals:  Rule the world (joke), have a stable living situation, getting a cool job, being famous in the niche kind of way (likely after my death, but still), etc
  • Quote:“I regret nothing” - Postal Dude from Postal. Not my own, but I do live by it (also look up a video of him saying it, context is important)

Electrical

Brandon Rogers-Clark

  • Position:  Member
  • Grade:  10
  • Hobbies:  Playing music and biking
  • Reason for joining:  I want learn more about electrical stuff
  • Future Goals:  Have fun and learn more about putting wires together

Electrical

Costa Stefanou

  • Position:  Electrical Lead
  • Grade:  11
  • Hobbies:  Living, robotics
  • Favorite Robot:  Rho (2022-2023 Cougartech robot)
  • Reason for joining:  Forced
  • Future Goals:  Surviving

Programming

Peter Clayton

  • Position:  Programming Lead
  • Grade:  9
  • Hobbies:  Programming
  • Favorite Character:  General Brasch from Helldivers II
  • Reason for joining:  I won't have a big STEM opportunity like this ever again
  • Future Goals:  Get a job, something involving engineering or programming, have a family

Programming

Cash Conner

  • Position:  Member
  • Grade:  9
  • Hobbies:  Video games (I guess) I don’t have many hobbies
  • Favorite Character:  The knight (hollow knight)
  • Reason for joining:  I wanted a learning opportunity about programming
  • Future Goals:  To learn more about programming and actually be useful

Programming

Alexander Travis

  • Position:  Member
  • Grade:  9
  • Hobbies:  computer, computer, computer, that’s literally it
  • Favorite Robot:  Atlas (boston dynamics)
  • Favorite Character:  Nepeta Leijon (homestuck)
  • Reason for joining:  robotics club at rh recommended it, and my cousin was in it
  • Future Goals:  program for a big company (or if ai takes our job, code games for fun)
  • Quote:barney is a dinosaur from your imagination, he’s also a hacker and is tracking your location

Programming

Richard Swan

  • Position:  Programming Lead
  • Grade:  11
  • Hobbies:  Tennis
  • Favorite Robot:  Rho
  • Reason for joining:  Friends, robotics.
  • Future Goals:  Collage
  • Quote:"We're a robotics team, we make stuff" -Andy

Programming

Isaac Stanley

  • Position:  Member
  • Grade:  11
  • Hobbies:  Programming; drawing, painting, sketching, etc.; reading (in great excess); and researching random things.
  • Favorite Robot:  Thus far, Rho. It was a very capable bot. However, I myself have a bias for Rho, as I participated in its construction and programming.
  • Reason for joining:  I wanted to join to learn. Programming has interested me since I was first introduced to computers (Rust is amazing). I was also made aware of some opportunities available through the team and through FIRST.
  • Future Goals:  I wish to go to the Rochester Institute of Technology after graduation and get my Bachelor's (at least) in Computer Science, with a double minor in Game Design and American Sign Language.
  • Quote:"Yeah, you were right. There are a LOT of ways to do one thing in Perl."

CAD

Avery Knapp

  • Position:  CAD Lead
  • Grade:  9
  • Hobbies:  Instruments (flute, saxophone, piccolo), origami/other crafting, volunteer at lollypop farms, plant care
  • Favorite Robot:  Wall-E
  • Favorite Character:  Hugo from Under the Whispering Door, Rem
  • Reason for joining:  Demo at our school, and then went to the open house
  • Future Goals:  Go to college, be some kind of engineer, play level a level 6 NYSSMA solo and get a perfect score, own reptiles
  • Quote:"The shampoo is not tear free. In fact, it is tear-inducing." -Count Olaf from ASoUE

CAD

Ryan Mangan

  • Position:  Member
  • Grade:  10
  • Hobbies:  Gaming, biking, camping, traveling, music, and legos
  • Favorite Character:  Jake Peralta
  • Reason for joining:  I’m interested in CADing engineering designs for Aerospace and Aeronautics Engineering
  • Future Goals:  Become an Aerospace Engineer
  • Quote:Nobody cares that you’re in the cave until you find diamonds - Steve from Minecraft

CAD

Andy Smith

  • Position:  CAD Lead
  • Grade:  12
  • Hobbies:  Race cars, video games
  • Favorite Robot:  Wall-E
  • Favorite Character:  Lightning McQueen
  • Reason for joining:  I've wanted to do robotics for a while as I love to tinker and Arielle made me
  • Future Goals:  Work for a race team, designing and building race cars
  • Quote:"Life is roblox" -DJ Kahlid

CAD

William Kolmetz

  • Position:  Member
  • Grade:  9
  • Hobbies:  Reading and doing jigsaw puzzles.
  • Reason for joining:  Wanted to practice doing CAD work and my sister was on the team.
  • Future Goals:  Develop CAD skills and learn if CAD is what I want to do for a living.
  • Quote:Hexagons are best-agons.

Safety

Fatima Alridha

  • Position:  Safety Captain
  • Grade:  9
  • Hobbies:  I like to bake, read, and play soccer.
  • Favorite Robot:  Sonny from the movie "I, Robot" specifically when he looked into the camera and became a meme.
  • Favorite Character:  Jude Duarte or Peter Parker, but only if
  • Reason for joining:  I enjoy trying new things and I've enjoyed every robotics related class I've ever taken so I joined the team to do more of what I enjoy.
  • Future Goals:  I want to do well on all my final exams. I want to graduate with a good GPA and go to college.
  • Quote:"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" - John Lennon. Or it's "Alien, Alien, he's our favorite guy".

Media and Design

Autumn Velazquez-Ocque

  • Position:  Media & Design Member
  • Grade:  9
  • Hobbies:  Painting sunsets, crafting and gardening. Kickboxing and martial arts.
  • Favorite Robot:  Sushi Robot
  • Favorite Character:  Spiderman
  • Reason for joining:  To socialize and help participate in robotic team.
  • Future Goals:  To be more independent, pass classes, be strong
  • Quote:Find the Beauty in Everyday

Media and Design

Grace DeFranco

  • Position:  Media and Design member
  • Grade:  9
  • Hobbies:  drawing, reading, playing video games
  • Reason for joining:  I saw the demo in 2nd-4th grade-ish and found it really cool
  • Future Goals:  to be a author/animator/artist/content creator
  • Quote:"'Look, kid, everyone wants to believe they are "chosen". But if we all waited around for a prophecy to make us special, we'd die waiting. And that's why you need to choose yourself.'" Eda Clawthorne from The Owl House

Media and Design

Naomi Stanley

  • Position:  Media & Design Member
  • Grade:  9
  • Hobbies:  Drawing, reading, playing instruments.
  • Reason for joining:  I really like graphic art and I am interested in competition and having experience in robotics.
  • Future Goals:  I want to go to college for at least two year and get a job that involves arts or literature.

Media and Design

Lily Wisnowski

  • Position:  Member
  • Grade:  9

Media and Design

Leo Camobreco

  • Position:  Media & Design Lead
  • Grade:  12
  • Hobbies:  Drawing, reading, Minecraft
  • Favorite Robot:  Grumbot
  • Favorite Character:  Dandelion from Watership Down
  • Reason for joining:  Silly goofy times
  • Future Goals:  Go to college for either a masters or PhD in some biology or zoology field
  • Quote:I'm going to be nice and find a normal quote. "This blinding light, this reckoning. There's more to life than suffering. But there's still time, it's not too late; nothing will change until I change"

Website and Social Media

Ollie Keeler

  • Position:  Website and Social Media
  • Grade:  9
  • Hobbies:  Drawing, writing, reading, playing piano/guitar, composing, researching, playing outside
  • Favorite Robot:  Tau (not biased at all)
  • Reason for joining:  It's fun and I want to learn more about computer science!
  • Future Goals:  to figure out something cool to study for college
  • Quote:"We now have to be the Bowie that we wish to see in the world", "we don't know what rice speaks [...] but it certainly understands our feelings towards it", or "did you know, for example, that the French Revolution really was televised (though only on PBS, so nobody was watching), Benjamin Franklin was a big Gary Numan fan, and [...] had a really sick website?" -Momus, aka Nick Currie

Website and Social Media

Mason Liteer

  • Position:  Member
  • Grade:  9
  • Hobbies:  Gaming, history, model un, and robotics
  • Favorite Robot:  U S. Reaper drone
  • Favorite Character:  Mark
  • Reason for joining:  My friends are on it and I wanted to be more involved in my community
  • Future Goals:  Success and be good at something and to our live the age of a average peasant
  • Quote:Why where a glove if you don't have a hand

Finance

Brennan Stephens

  • Position:  Finance Lead
  • Grade:  11

Finance

Max Michaels

  • Position:  Finance Lead
  • Grade:  12
  • Reason for joining:  idk
  • Future Goals:  idk
  • Quote:"sigma sigma on the wall who's the skibidiest of them all"

Sam Fedele

  • Position:  Finance Mentor
  • Nickname:  Mentor Sam
  • Years in FRC:  5
  • Reason for joining:  Was on the team in high school and saw how much the experience helped me and wanted to pay it forward
  • Future Goals:  Get the team to our 10k fundraiser goal for our 2026 season!
  • Quote:No pressure, no diamonds - Thomas Carlyle

Bonnie Coddington

  • Position:  Senior Mentor
  • Hobbies:  Camping, Scouting
  • Years in FRC:  19
  • Favorite Robot:  Anyone made by Cougartech
  • Favorite Character:  Snoopy
  • Reason for joining:  My son joined lego's and I got hooked.
  • Future Goals:  Retire soon
  • Quote:They don't know what they don't know

Erik VanBork

  • Position:  CAD/Drive Team
  • Nickname:  Mr. VB
  • Hobbies:  Home/Automotive Repair, Wood Working, Robotics
  • Years in FRC:  11
  • Favorite Robot:  The Mars Rover Opportunity
  • Favorite Character:  Indiana Jones
  • Reason for joining:  My children joined the team and I started Mentoring they've graduated (one's an EE and the other is an ME) and I just hang around for the fun
  • Future Goals:  Win an FRC Championship
  • Quote:The master is a beginner who never gave up

Tim Heywood

  • Position:  Electrical Mentor
  • Hobbies:  Astronomy, hiking, travel
  • Years in FRC:  14
  • Favorite Robot:  JWST - James Webb Space Telescope
  • Favorite Character:  Sisyphus
  • Reason for joining:  My kids on the team
  • Future Goals:  Retirement

Gary Stottler

  • Position:  Senior Mentor
  • Hobbies:  Work on old cars.
  • Years in FRC:  15
  • Favorite Robot:  R2D2
  • Favorite Character:  Lazarus Long
  • Reason for joining:  I love building things and teaching others to build, and enjoy working with students
  • Future Goals:  Retire!
  • Quote:Those who don't learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them

Ken Symons

  • Position:  Supplementary
  • Hobbies:  -
  • Years in FRC:  6
  • Favorite Robot:  R2D2
  • Reason for joining:  My son joined so I thought I would too
  • Future Goals:  -
  • Quote:Simple solutions are the best solutions

Bob Carter

  • Position:  Mechanical Mentor
  • Hobbies:  -
  • Years in FRC:  4
  • Favorite Robot:  -
  • Reason for joining:  -
  • Future Goals:  -
  • Quote:-

Jeff Lange

  • Position:  Programming Mentor
  • Years in FRC:  10
  • Favorite Robot:  Inspiration
  • Reason for joining:  To share my love of technology with students!
  • Future Goals:  Win on Einstein

Jaime Lange

  • Position:  Mechanical Mentor
  • Hobbies:  Travel, plan travel, crafting
  • Years in FRC:  9
  • Favorite Robot:  Rosie from Jetsons
  • Favorite Character:  Harry Potter
  • Reason for joining:  Robotics is fun!
  • Future Goals:  Love, laugh, love

Ken Simpson

  • Position:  CAD/Scouting
  • Hobbies:  I'll let you know when I find some
  • Years in FRC:  1
  • Reason for joining:  It's Robitics?!

Zack Butler

  • Position:  Programming Mentor
  • Nickname:  Dr. Butler
  • Hobbies:  Puzzles of all kinds, orienteering
  • Years in FRC:  2
  • Favorite Robot:  Any robot I've helped build!
  • Reason for joining:  To work with fun people and build robots.
  • Future Goals:  To learn something new every day!

Ben Strohman

  • Position:  Mechanical Mentor
  • Nickname:  Bentor
  • Hobbies:  Machining, welding, 3d printing, crossfit
  • Years in FRC:  10
  • Favorite Character:  Data from Star Trek
  • Reason for joining:  Heard it was a well run organization.
  • Future Goals:  Build cool robots.

Scott Ulatowski

  • Position:  Mechanical Member
  • Nickname:  Mentor Scotty
  • Hobbies:  Cars, planes, trains, and video games
  • Years in FRC:  5
  • Favorite Robot:  Team 1559’s 2020 robot :(
  • Favorite Character:  Cassian Andor
  • Reason for joining:  For the love of the game
  • Future Goals:  Get a cool job
  • Quote:“That’s freaking money.” -Me

Alan Smith

  • Position:  Supplementary
  • Nickname:  Mr. Smith
  • Hobbies:  Woodworking, TSD rally, car sport's
  • Years in FRC:  2
  • Favorite Character:  Mr. Incredible
  • Reason for joining:  My son is a member
  • Future Goals:  Retirement

Peter Cesmegi

  • Position:  Programming Mentor
  • Years in FRC:  0

Richard Nashburn

  • Position:  Purchasing
  • Years in FRC:  10
  • Future Goals:  Retire and move south
  • Quote:Working with the students has been incredibly rewarding seeing the kids learn new skills and being challenged to think in new ways I especially enjoy seeing students who do not think that they can perform a task overcoming their doubts