Foley Freeze Students Gain from Experiences of Alumni Mentors

By Anne Schaller and Meghan Valade 

Bishop Foley Robotics only had about 9 students when Greg Naismith joined the FIRST team in 2002. The team, then called the Crusaders in its rookie year, was so small that members did everything from build the robot to design banners.

Naismith, now a mechanical engineer at GM, is one of five mentors who were originally on the team during their high school years. These mentors work every week to help students design, program, build and operate the robots for the Foley Freeze, the name the team adopted in 2005.

In addition to Naismith, Dominic Doxen (2013), Kaitlyn Chornoby (2008), Jon Crombe (2008), and Kevin Swift (2007) are also past members of the team among the more than 20 adults who volunteer each week. The alumni work for companies that include Fiat Chrysler, FreeStar Financial, and on staff at Bishop Foley.

Mentors are key to the mission of FIRST Robotics, which helps students develop engineering acumen, problem solving and other skills they can use in future careers. Colleges offered $80 million in scholarships last year to students in FIRST. Graduates of the Foley Freeze have worked at careers that include engineering, design, manufacturing even as an employee at NASA.

FRC games have been 3 robots vs 3 robots on the same dimension field for more than 18 years, but much has changed.  Naismith said the FIRST team at Foley worked out a space that wasn’t much bigger than a closet. 

“If you like taking things apart as a kid, having a school program that encompasses everything where you can work with your hands is great,” said Naismith, who mentors the fabrication and production subteam. “Back on the [original] team, we had 8-9 students, so we built part of the robot, and then designed a sign or banner.” 

For Chornoby, who works with the media subteam, the biggest change has been the addition of subteams and structure to the Freeze. Her subteam didn’t even exist when she was a student. Her fondest memory was when the media subteam in 2013-14 won the Imagery Award at 4 Districts, one Regional, and at the Michigan State Championship.
“I gained a lot of experience with FIRST as a student and I want other students to have the same opportunities as I had,” she said.

For Doxen, who works with the design subteam, the best memory was mentoring his little brother in 2017, when the team won three blue ribbons and a finalist medal at the Michigan State Competition. 

“The most important thing I learned on the team that helps me with my current job is the power of being proactive,” Doxen said. “I can’t just wait until my boss asks me for something to provide it. He expects an answer immediately and I have to be ready.”

Doxen, like the other alumni, said returning to the Freeze is about giving back what he gained as a student.

 “I joined the Foley Freeze again as a mentor because I think of myself in high school, and reflect back and think about how grateful I am to have the amazing mentors I had,” he said. “I want to be able to be like them to the current high school students, and maybe teach them a thing or two about engineering along the way.”