By Laura Masbruch
Whitewater High School Robotics Advisor, Banner Volunteer
lmasbruch@wwusd.org

Every dean’s list is about excellence, and the FIRST Robotics Dean’s List is no exception. The mentors working with each FIRST Robotics team may nominate up to two students in their sophomore or junior year to compete for this prestigious award named for FIRST Founder Dean Kamen. While the Dean’s List award is partially academic, the award in essence demonstrates how the applicant developed in the robotics community and their accomplishments within it. Nominated students are screened prior to a regional event using a mentor written essay. Once at a regional event, the students go through an interview process to see if they will make the FIRST Robotics Dean’s List. In 2021, candidates will participate in a virtual interview with two judges.

In the 2021 season, Ferradermis is proud to nominate sophomore Anderson Waelchli and junior Elijah Grall as our Dean’s List semi-finalists. Finalists will be selected from each region as defined by FIRST: 4 from the state of Wisconsin, and then 10 winners will be selected from the pool of finalists from all regions.

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Anderson joined the team as a freshman on the day before the 2020 season kick-off and quickly became an integral part of the business team and also helped prototype and build the robot in the shop. He worked to help develop the Chairman’s Award presentation, preparing to put his drama talents to work for the judges prior to the suspension of the 2020 season by FIRST in March. As a sophomore, he is successfully leading this now fully virtual subteam of Ferradermis, now renamed the Administrative Team. Anderson has led the fundraising campaign for the 2021 season and is heavily involved in the development of the team’s project for the Innovation Challenge. He also completed one of the Rube Goldberg segments of the team’s winning entry for the Milwaukee Tool Hit the Nail on the Head competition and is the driving force behind the team’s newsletters, which are sent to sponsors of the team. Anderson’s enthusiastically energetic personality shines during each of his entertaining Google Meets for the Administrative Team, and motivates the members of his virtual team to get creative and do their very best for the team as a whole.

Elijah got his first taste of FIRST Robotics driving the robot in middle school while at the Makerspace in Ferradermis’ rookie year, and he was hooked. He has been an extremely involved member of the Mechanical Team since his freshman year, doing much of the CAD for portions of the 2020 and 2021 robot, taking on the role of Junior CAD Captain in his sophomore year, and CAD Captain in his junior year. Elijah served as part of the drive team during off-season competitions in the summer and fall of 2019 and was the back-up driver for the 2020 season. Throughout all of this, he has exuded a level head and deliberate effort to do his job well. In the spring of 2020, Elijah helped demonstrate our robot and gave driving experience to the young participants attending the State LEGO League Competition. Elijah is a deep thinker who stays quiet during design discussions until he has fully processed his ideas, and then eloquently shares his thoughts. He has a profound knowledge of everything mechanical and is always happy to help newer members learn the ropes. At regional competitions, you will find Elijah spending endless hours in the team’s pit, keeping the robot performing at peak levels.

Congratulations to Anderson and Elijah on their Dean’s List nominations! Ferradermis is proud to have you represent us!