Mentors
Mentors are the backbone of every FRC team, working to make sure we are focused, on-track, and working towards our goals, and making sure each student is contributing to those goals and participating as part of the team. Our mentors instruct the team members how to perform a given job or task, usually via hands-on demonstration, but also through whiteboard discussion and collaboration. Mentors can demonstrate, but student members must do the work to supply the parts needed to construct a competition robot.
Current Mentors
Magical Deserts
Morocco
4/11-5/12
$600
Mentor
Brazil
4/11-5/12
$600
Mentor
Scotland
4/11-5/12
$600
Marc Rogers
The highest level science teacher at Cimarron-Memorial High School and co-Founder of the team, Marc Rogers has always been a committed mentor who keeps the team on-track, organized, and focused on the Build. At competitions, Mr. Rogers usually takes the role of Drive Coach - the critical third member of the Drive Team who assesses the
Marc Rogers
[Chemistry Teacher and Team Founder]
“Mentoring the robot team has been the most rewarding experience of my educational career. I hope what the students can take away from me is always do your best, always do the right thing, and strive to get better each day."
Famous quote:
“Is the robot done yet? Why isn’t the robot done yet? What’s keeping us from finishing the robot? Why aren’t we practicing?
dynamics of the game and provides strategy and direction to the driver and co-driver throughout the match. In between matches, he is constantly developing new strategies to move the team forward. Back in the Pit, he reminds the students in lead positions to practice the fundamentals, like tightening screws, checking and securing connections, lubricating moving parts, and verifying sensors. He has a long list of small but extremely important things that can turn out to be the deciding factor in any match. Marc Rogers was awarded the prestigious Woodie Flowers Finalist Award in 2008.
Mentors should be listed in this order, top to bottom, left to right:
Top row:
Marc Rogers
joe barry
Clint barnes
James Campbell
Next row(s);
alphabetical:
Jackson haney
Brandon Hjelstrom
Greg hjelstrom
Dennis Jenks
Dr. Jones
Jen Joseph
Steve Mulcahy
Brendan Mulcahy
Travis Murray
Riki Osako
Terry Ritz
Trevor Ritz
kirstie Ritz
Curt Thompson
QAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Mentors Words
"The very first year team 987 was formed I knew I was a part of something very special. Every year since then has affirmed my original perception and continued to inspire me as much as I hope our program has inspired others on the team and in the local and global community. I’m so proud and thankful to be a part of our awesome family of mentors, students and supporters that make The High Rollers so special. Go 9-8-7!"
Joe Barry
Mr. Barry is a co-Founder of the High Rollers, a leader, spokesman, and role model to the team. He is always ready, willing, and able to help team members from ANY team develop new skills and techniques using tools and parts in traditional and improvised
ways. During Build season he adopts the role of Lead Mentor of prototyping, providing conceptual design options well before initial CAD drawings are finalized. At competition, Mr. Barry assumes a leadership role, coordinating activities and tasks behind the scenes to keep the team in-sync with the evolving competition from the moment it starts, and until a champion is named on the Einstein field. Joe Barry was the first Team 987 mentor to be awarded the prestigious Woodie Flowers Finalist Award in 2007.
Dr. Jones
Contact info
Mentors Words
Mark Jones joined the team one year after it was formed and has always been there, ready to mentor the team. He challenges team members with difficult projects meant to develop and grow their hands-on skills, especially in the area of CNC and manual machining, fabrication, mechanical engineering, and of course tool safety.
The instruction he provides to the students is detailed and meticulous; precision and accuracy are his standards. His past and on-going cotribution to the team during Build as well as at competitions is always welcome and much appreiated. Marc Jones was awarded the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award in 2007.
James Campbell
Contact info-campbjm3@nv.ccsd.net
Mentors Words
James Campbell is a teacher of advanced mathematics and AP Calculus at Cimarron-Memorial High School. He joined the team as soon as he received his assignment to CMHS, and we are sure glad he is on our team! Mr. Campbell is extremely organized, detailed, and ready to solve all sorts of problems, be it mathematical,
logistical, organizational, or technical; you name it and James' has it covered. Mr. Campbell is the perfect mentor to lead our team in Scouting, which is the process of analyzing other teams strengths and weaknesses to find the best Alliance Partners to compete with during final matches at FRC Regionals and Championship events.
Travis Murray
Contact info-gravie987@gmail.com
Mentors Words
Travis is an alumni of the team and now decided to take the responsibility in being a mentor. Travis is known for his knowledge in robotics, seeing through the problem. Travis has a keen memory of what happens, helping him solve problems that may have been solved before.
Jen Joseph
Contact info-Jejosephlv70@gmail.com
Mentors Words
Jen Joseph has been a long-time supporter of Team 987. Daily, you would usually find her working hard in the schools' Administration Office but during competition you would only find her on the road, traveling to other cities with the team. Accompanied by the CMHS principal to our competitive events, Mrs. Joseph represented the senior administrative staff for Cimarron- Memorial High School, ready to step in and solve issues that can arise with so many students and staff traveling and on the road. Recently, Mr. Joseph retired from her job as an administrator and has decided to spend her free time as the newest member of the mentor crew making 2023 her first year in this new role.
Curt Thompson
Contact info-987curt@gmail.com
Mentors Words
Spending all of his free time advancing special projects either in the team Shop or his own shop, 'Mr. Curt' never misses an opportunity to
create , fix, modify or redesign anything to make it better (or cooler) than it was originally. You might say he makes the ordinary... Extraordinary!
As a working Electronics Engineer, when he's not at the job, you will find him in the Shop, fine-tuning it for an efficient Build season. And when he's not leadiing the Field Element build crew, he assists and trains the Lead Electrical team member on all things both electrical and electronic. During competition events he wil be leading a small, dedicated group of High Rollers to be first on the venue floor and the last to leave, setting up the pit and tearing it down, both before and after the competition starts and concludes. In the words of the IceMan:
"Mr. Curt - He's the Man!"
Brandon
Hjelstrom
Contact info-Brandon.Hjelstrom@gmail.com
Mentors Words
Brandon Hjelstrom started out as a team member and lead programmer for the High Rollers, graduated as a team alumni, came back to the team as a mentor, and later became a Sponsor. You could say that Brandon has done it all. During Build, Brandon makes time in his busy schedule to work with the new team programmers and is often the last
to leave the Shop. As the creator of the LimeLight for FRC robot vision subsystem, he is sought after by many teams during competition events and spends a lot of his time assisting teams with troubleshooting, tips and tricks, and even last-minute integration of LimeLight into their robots.
Greg Hjelstrom
Contact info-greg.hjelstrom@gmail.com
Mentors Words
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Greg Hjejstrom started as a mentor when his oldest son, Brandon, joined the team as the lead programmer. Being an accomplished professioinal programmer himself with many years of experience coding numerious popular games titles, Greg was naturally drawn into the team. A few years later his son Kevin also join the High Rollers.
With Brandon still in high school student, thet both began deep-diving into the the world of robot vision. After several successful prototypes were used in competition, they finalized the first commercially available vision subsystem for FRC robots known as "LimeLight" which has become the standard for FRC teams. Greg Hjelstrom was awarded the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award in 2012.
Dennis Jenks
Contact info-dennis.jenks@gmail.com
Dennis Jenks joined Team987 in 2018 as the first mentor to bring decades of FRC experience with him. From rookie teams to top teams, he has seen and mentored it all. Twice. His experience with the FRC goes back to a time when most teams
had only two-digit team numbers! Now a retired engineer from a major military defense company, he mentors the High Roller CAD leads in SolidWorks so they are proficient in these important design tools well before Build season starts. Mr. Jenks also performed the duties of Drive Coach for the High Rollers in the 2022 season of Rapid React. And when he's not mentoring CAD students in the Shop or networking with other coaches at competitive events, he's working on end-game stratagies with our other coaches to help push us closer to the Einstein field.
Clint Barnes
Contact info-campbjm3@nv.ccsd.net
Mr. Barnes has the distinction of being the first person to not only be a mentor for the High Rollers, but he is also a teacher at Cimarron-Memorial High School and a past alumni of the team. In the classroom, Mr. Barnes teaches manufacturing, automation, and safety, and his expectations are very high. To work in the Shop, students must meet or exceed these expectations by qualifying on tools they intent to use in the Shop.
Mentors Words
Mr. Barnes is also a certified instructor for the SolidWorks CAD design tool and an exceptionally proficient 3D print modeler. He utilizes the latest equipment and techniques in Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) and Photopolymerization to help students stay on top of this fast paced area of fabrication. Mr. Barnes was awarded the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award in 2019.
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