From Student to Mentor

Jon Crombe returns to his alma mater as a Design Mentor

As critical members of The Foley Freeze, mentors play a large role in teaching our students the many skills necessary to design and build a robot.  By demonstrating skills and illustrating concepts, they challenge students to learn new skills while striving to guide them toward achieving the goals of the team. This week we highlight Jon Crombe, Design Mentor.

Jon joined The Foley Freeze in 2004 as a freshman student at Bishop Foley.  During these formative years with FIRST robotics and The Foley Freeze, he developed a passion for designing and engineering.  His mentors at the time played a critical role in providing him with a positive learning experience as well as growth opportunities in the area of design while collaborating with other teams. Upon graduating from BFC Jon attended Kettering University, majoring in both mechanical and electrical engineering. His FIRST experience helped him earn a patent with General Motors during his first two years there as a co-op. While studying for his degree and gaining work experience in the engineering field, Jon sought out opportunities to give back to FIRST.

“My years with FIRST robotics helped influence my career decisions as well as the importance of giving back through mentorship.” – Jon Crombe – 2008 BFC Graduate and Design Mentor

Now in his ninth year as a mentor with The Foley Freeze, Jon continues to combine his passion for robotics and teaching students.  “As a mentor, I want to help students learn technical and collaboration skills; these skills will benefit them in college as well as in their future position,” said Jon.  As a Design Mentor, Jon teaches students how to use new desktop technologies, such as Autodesk Inventor, to design robot parts for submission to the prototyping and fabrication subteams.  By donating his time and talents to the team, he has been instrumental in leading the team to our achievements and growth.