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.
MENTORS
Kristopher Key
As a graduate of Cimarron-
Memorial HS and an alumni of
Team 987, Kristopher “Kris” Key
got his professional start
working for Tesla. Kris was an
integral part of the team in his
high school years working on
electrical, mechanics, and
building. He was also a driver of
the robot for two years. Later, he
helped to coach a rookie
robotics team at Green Valley High School for several years. Now back as a 987 mentor, he recently started teaching the CMHS Manufacturing Class, teaching students a wide range of engineering and manufacturing skills which provides students with a dual credit at the college level. He also teaches manufacturing at CSN, educating students at many different stages in life.letters, that works well on almost every site.
Brandon Leets
Brandon Leets is a physics
teacher at Cimarron-
Memorial High School.
Having just joined the
team recently, he found his
place in helping students.
Mr. Leets is a Las Vegas
native being an alumni
from the Las Vegas
Academy of Arts for his
background in music. He
got his bachelor’s at the
University of Nevada - Reno and his Master’s at
the University of Nevada - Las Vegas. He brings his
passion for STEM to the team with a focus on
3D Modeling and Printing. At competition, you can
usually find him coaching, coordinating, managing,
and juggling all the questions from logistics, to team schedule, and food and lodging for the whole team.
Susana
Delgado-Jaramillo
Travis Murray
Susana “Susy” Jaramillo-
Delgado is a Mathematics
teacher at Cimarron-
Memorial High School.
Our team was in need of
more women-led roles
and Susy stepped right up
to the plate. She joined
our team last year and
traveled to all of our
events, including the
world championship in Houston. She incorporates her
love of design and creativity to help students with
media and strategy. She is also a part of working on
our Impact Award presentation. As a part of Teach for America, she is dedicated to bringing diversity and
culture to the classroom as a first generation Mexican American. She hopes to inspire and motivate students
to always reach their full potential despite all odds.
Her favorite motto is “Todo Se Puede En La Vida”!
Travis graduated from and is an alumni of Team 987. Post-graduation, he continued his education and attended classes at UNLV to earn a degree in Mechanical Engineering before returning to the team as a lead mentor.
He is well known for his keen recollection of competition match details, events, and strategies of past competitions for hundreds of teams in the FRC.
As a student at CMHS, Travis led the team in CAD as
the "VP of Build" and was a robot driver in his senior
year on the world championship stage. Now, he
mentors new students in CAD, machine and tool
handling, construction and fabrication, and
mechanical and electrical aspects on the robot. At competitions, you will usually find him in the stands guiding students through the task of collecting data
of other robots from other teams ("Scouting") and
analyzing that data along with the students, offering
them the benefits of his years of experience in lead
scouting.He also donates a great deal of his time, both personally and professionally and away from his
business as the president and lead technical engineer
of a new and promising nation-wide robotics
integrations and solutions company in the growing robotics marketplace.
Greg Hjelstrom
Greg Hjejstrom started as a mentor when his oldest son, Brandon, joined the team as the lead programmer. Being an accomplished professional programmer himself with many years of experience coding numerous popular game titles, Greg was naturally drawn into the team. A few years later his son Kevin also join the High
Rollers. With Brandon still a high school student, together, they both began a deep-dive into the the world of robot vision. After forming this new e-business called Limelight Vision, Greg and Brandon responded to and won an RFP from the FIRST organization to collaborate with Raspberry Pi, WPI, Rev Robotics, and Google to produce the latest version of robot controller called "SystemCore" which will embed Limelight technology into every robot competing in the FRC. Still working as a programmer, and this new business, Greg still finds time in his busy schedule to come
to the Shop to advise and guide team members who are
still new to programming. Greg was awarded the prestigious Woodie Flowers Finalist Award in 2012.
Brandon Hjelstrom
Brandon Hjelstrom started out as the lead programmer for Team 987. After high school he and his Dad started a new company called Limelight Vision; a company that is well-known as the standard for robot vision solutions for the FRC, and for custom solutions for other customers world-wide.
He returned to the team as an alumni, mentor and Sponsor. Limelight went on to develop the current central controller used in all robots in the FRC called SystemCore which is available globally to all teams. At competitions and events, he and spends a lot of his time assisting all teams with troubleshooting, tips and tricks, and even last-minute integration of LimeLight into their robots. Brandon and his dad, Greg Hjelstrom, co-creator of Limelight and SystemCore, went on to continue developing and perfecting the Limelight product line.
Steve Mulcahy
Mr. Steve Mulcahy is a Mechanical Engineer with decades of experince in his profession, and years pf experience working with
the team in all aspects of
robot design and
construction. He has
held senior positions with several mechanical
engineering firms in Las
Vegas.
Steve worked for engineering firms in Caifornia
full-time but that distance did not keep him away
from the 987 Shop. He would regularly jump into his sports car and drive back to Las Vegas on a moments notice, for all occasions both big and small to mentor students during Build season.
Steve has two sons, both of whom have been team members in past years, and his eldest son, Brendan, continues to mentor the team on a regular basis.
Brendan Mulcahy
Brendan “Mohawk” Mulcahy joined the team as a student in 2012 when he was just an eighth grader. He joined his dad in the shop and at competitions and never looked back.
He participated in various robotics events and
outdoor sports his whole life. His background as a
off-road racer made him a natural fit for driving the robot in 3 out of his 4 high school years on the team,
including 2 years on the world championship stage.
His critical-thinking skills and bravery allow him to think quickly and come up with solutions to problems most people wouldn’t even imagine. He has followed
his passion for robotics and fixing things through his career, currently working a robotics engineer for Battlebots. His wide range of knowledge in tools, design, and equipment made him an important part
of the team for many years. At competitions, you can often find him in the pits helping students work on
our robot in-between matches, or helping other
teams work on their robots to make sure everyone
has a fair chance at competing.
Madison Hershey
Madison Hershey is a
Cimarron-Memorial HS
graduate, an alumni of
the team, and our team’s
Impact Mentor. During
her time as a student, she
embraced the side of the
FIRST robotics program
that emphasizes it’s
“more than robots.”
Madison captured media
at events, spent countless hours inside and outside the shop working on essays, speeches, videos, and
graphics to help lead our team to 3 Chairman’s Awards (now known as the Impact Award) and our FRC Hall of Fame induction in 2016. Madison’s friendly and smiling demeanor helps students find their voice, making sure
that new students feel welcome in the shop and find a
place to fit in. She helps students broaden their professional skills, including public speaking, essay writing, video editing, and graphics design. She
graduated with a BS in Business Management from
UNLV and worked as an interior designer for 4 years
before becoming a licensed REALTOR® for Nevada.
Joe Barry (ret)
Marc Rogers (ret)
As 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
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 extremely
important things to do that can turn out to be the
deciding factor in any match. Marc Rogers was awarded
the prestigious Woodie Flowers Finalist Award in 2008.
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.
Curt Thompson (ret)
Now retitred from the work-a-day life as a degreed Electronics Engineer and a member in good standing with the IEEE, "Mr. Curt" spends a lot of his spare time working in his own lab and on his own projects as well as those special projects in the 987 Shop. He never misses an opportunity to invent, create, redesign, or modify anything
to make it better (cooler) than it was before. You might even say he makes the ordinary... Extraordinary!
He has mentored students one-on-one in the theory and concepts of electronics and engineering, both after school and on weekends for those students seeking an engineering degree after high school. Back in the Shop working together with Joe Barry and student members of the team, he has built the new game fields for teh past ten years, co-built the mobile Pit that is used to support the team robot at competitions, built new game elements, improved Shop safety, and just about anything the team needed to push it forward for a successful season. He also assists students with other tasks like building and updating the team website, improving the technology infrastructure, acquiring and repairing tools, making modifications to the Shop itself, fundraising and sponsorship activities.
Dr. Jones (ret)
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 contribution to the
team during Build as well as at competitions is always welcome and much appreiated.
Mark Jones was awarded the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award in 2007.
Dennis Jenks (ret)
Dennis Jenks joined the
team in 2018 and brought 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 only had 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 (ret)
Clint was the first mentor to return to Team 987 after graduating from CMHS as a student-alumni . Later he joined the staff at CMHS as the new Manufacturing instructor teacher and coach for the robotics team.
Clint recently left his teaching role at the school to pursue a technology career in the private sector but he still remains active with the team. Clint is a certified instructor in Solidworks 3D CAD and an extremely proficient 3D printing modeler. He utilizes the latest techniques and equipment in FDM Fused Deposition Modeling) (FDM) and Photopolymerization to help students stay on top of the latest changes in this fast paced area of fabrication. Clint was awarded the prestigious Woodie Flowers in 2019.