Alumni Hall of Fame
Mentor Robert Lorenzo has had the distinct pleasure of working with many students over the years who represent three different schools within the district and both FRC (3311 and 4475) and FTC (5573, 7311, 7312, and 11180) teams. In order to connect past and present, some of their stories will be highlighted here.
"Building a brighter future, one robot at a time."
"As you move up the ladder of success, reach back and pull up someone behind you."
Hey guys and girls of the next generation of robotics. My name is Gerald Brunson alumni of Essex County Vocational Tech North 13 Street School, and FRC 3111. I started robotics sophomore year of high school with Mr. Lorenzo. Me and the gang had so much fun building, programming, trouble shooting. Just the environment of the competition alone was amazing. This experience led me to going to Lincoln tech where i studied low voltage. I learned how to install security cameras, install fire alarms and even build a gaming room. If I could go back in time and do it all over again I wouldn't even think twice about changing anything. Well I would take tons of pictures. It was fun reliving this memory. My advice to you guys would be to have fun. Cherish the time you have with your team, learn as much as you can, and fearlessly pursue your dreams!
My name is Yesenia Candelaria, a former student at North 13th St H.S, and member of FRC 3111. I’m also a former member of the Robotics team. My time spent as a member of the Robotics club was incredibly amazing. The Robotics team didn’t only teach us how to build robots but also friendships. It was always a welcoming place, filled with motivated teenagers that wanted to make something from nothing. We went off to competitions and strived for greatness but no matter the outcome we were always proud of the hard work and dedication we put into it. I then graduated with my Law and Public Certification but after high school I decided to travel a little bit and went on to visit many places I never thought I’d go to. I’m living MY best life!
Hi my name is Stephanie Cortes I joined FRC Team 3111 when I was a freshman in high school and enjoyed my experience. It helped my mind focus as a freshman in high school. I am currently working in various hospitals doing administrative work. I recently graduated Berkeley College with my associates in Health Care Administration. I am currently still in school pursuing my BA.
My name is Jean-Guy Lauture, a graduate from N13 Vocational Tech, and a veteran RoboCougar (FRC 3111). I graduated as a Web Development student in 2014. Going on to study Game art and development in college. Robotics was a club that became so much more for me the longer I was a part of it. Starting out just helping because I had to wait late for my mother to pick me up only to find Lorenzo had added me on the roster was a funny experience, but a welcome one. From freshman year to senior year I was a part of the team. I learned about engineering, programming, teamwork, and honestly simply being able to enjoy the feeling of success and being able to grow after suffering defeat. The chance to both grow in happiness and grow in solidarity when things were rough may be some of the greatest moments I’ve had not only in robotics, but in High School in general. During my sophomore year, after working with Lorenzo and the team for two years they were no longer just a club but a family. One of my most memorable moments of the club took place that year. We won 4 trophies, and the entire school was there to greet us outside when the bus returned to school. The robotics club was a major part of my high school life. Chances to communicate with people from different places, to present the work we had put out, and to compete in something where the students held most of the cards; there aren’t many clubs like that. It was the only club I was a part of my entire high school life. If i could pass on any information to the new kids thinking of joining up or already in, enjoy the time, enjoy the work, find your stride and the rest will follow. If me and 2 other students can spend one day building an entire new robot from scratch for a competition the day before we had to compete anything is possible. If you don’t know what to do, ask, and take every chance you can to learn. Get to know who you’re working with, you might be lucky and end up like me, where I’ve gained 7-8 year long best friends from the Robotics club. If you have to ask, the answer is yes, just dive in and take that chance, take that step and go.
My name is Rodney Jones. I am from Newark, NJ born and raised. I am a graduate of North 13th Street Tech’s Law and Public Safety CTE Program. I loved every bit of high school at North 13th, I was in numerous extracurricular activities there. My freshman and sophomore year, I was a part of the Robotics Club (FRC 3111, FTC 5573), I learned a lot and it was able to help me expand on my love for technology. I also was able to become one of the school’s DJ’s that the district used for school events. My junior and senior year, I partook in the year book club, student government, mock trials, HSPA tutor’s and the best of all Senior Mentor program I was able to help out the incoming freshmen acclimate to high school. After graduating North 13th in 2013 I started my college career at The Pennsylvania State University, with the help of North 13th’s CTE program I was able to graduate a year early! I graduated Penn State with a Bachelor of Science in Administration of Justice with a Minor in Sociology in 3 years! After graduating from Penn State in May 2016 I moved back to NJ to start working in Community Corrections with private companies supervised by NJ Department of Correction. I became the youngest Supervisor in my company. I was the Operation’s Supervisor, I reported straight to the Director of the Company and I was in charge of the all the Site Monitors, Senior Site Monitors and over 60 adult male inmates from East Jersey State Prison. November 2017 I was hired to Delaware Department of Correction as a Correctional Officer and I moved out to Delaware. Days after graduating the academy for Correctional Officer I was contacted by Delaware Probation and Parole offering me a position as a Probation and Parole Officer for the State of Delaware. Now I am currently a State Probation and Parole Officer Supervising a standard caseload of offenders in the State of Delaware. I never thought that I would be a Probation and Parole Officer. In high school I just knew I wanted to be a Police Officer. My Principal kept asking me “Why do you want to be a Police Officer? You should be a counselor, you love helping people.” I told her she didn’t know what she was talking about because I know I want to be a Police Officer. She was right, with Probation and Parole I get the best of both worlds, I am a State Police Officer and a Counselor/Social Worker for the offenders. I get to help offenders successfully reintegrate back into society and hope to reduce the recidivism rate. One quote I like to live by is “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” – Harriet Tubman From January 2016 until November 2017 I applied to over 20 different Law Enforcement Agencies, received different responses, ranging from, “you are not ready for this mentally, you are qualified, but not competitive enough, you are qualified we are putting you on the list for academy (but never got called to start)” I never gave up on what my dream was. You can do whatever your heart desires, because you are embodied with the strength to get it done!
Hey next generation roboticists, my name is Luis Martinez. During my sophomore year of high school I had a great teacher, who you are now lucky enough to have for robotics. At that time he bought us a robotics program, which I would describe as the best program at North 13th! Through this program I learned how to work on, and became comfortable with electronics and how they work. In addition, we were able to build a competitive robot and learn about how competitive the sport of robotics is. Today I work as a fork lift operator and field technician, but I have also started a side business as a repair tech for electronics that range from tablets to computers, cell phones, and more. What I learned in robotics is something I have used, and will continue to use throughout life. I hope you make the most of your time in robotics, learn as much as you can from this hands on experience, and know it is definitely worth your time. Finally, HAVE LOTS OF FUN!!!
Hello there, young fresh eager minded ladies and gentlemen! My name is Jasmine Nelson. I graduated as a Business Technology student from North 13th Street Vo-Tech in 2015. I am also an Alumni RoboCougar FTC 5573. I got into the robotics club because my sister was a senior on the team and I was a freshman. Also, when I was on the cross-country team, Mr. Lorenzo was my coach then I later learned he was the robotics club advisor. I was mainly in charge of the journal and it may seem like a small aspect of the job but its more than just writing. You get to be creative with the writing and also just down right blunt about your trials and tribulations with building your robot. During my time in this program it was simply wonderful. You get to spent time with a lot of goofy yet gifted minds. Although, there are times where you have to be serious in order to really focus and get the job done, there was almost never a dull moment with Mr. Lorenzo and our wonderful team. Really, after a while you become more like family instead of just random kids altogether in one room for hours after school. Unfortunately after high school I didn’t go to college to further my education interest in engineering but if that is what you want to do, I promise you, the robotics program is definitely the place to start. I’d just like you young ones to know that it’s alright to mess up and make mistakes, just as long as you never stop trying to reach your dreams and goals. Try to get as much joy out of this program with your advisor and teammates because I promise you, you’ll miss it once you graduate.
My interest in robotics started in middle school when I was asked to help start a lego robotics team my 7th grade year. I was skeptical at first but that quickly changed when I gave it a shot. I always liked art and this was a new field I could explore that gave me the creative freedom to express myself in ways I didn't know where available. The challenge of building a mini robot that could accomplish different tasks and overcoming obstacles was too tempting to pass up. As a middle school kid helping build and program something that can do all these things was mind blowing. We had a small team of 5 plus our teacher and signed up for the First Lego League Robotics competitions. Competing was fun but the experiences I had were even better. Seeing what other people came up with to solve the same task was just too fun and fueled the creativity and drive even more.
I was sad after I graduated but I kept the memories with me. Little to my surprise, my high school also was starting up a robotics team. When I learned about this I decided to check it out. To my surprise this was on a much larger scale. The metal parts and more complex wiring shocked me. I had no idea it was going to be so different; but this was a fun new challenge I couldn't wait to tackle. Unlike the Lego League which has pre set parts and options, we had to build everything from scratch. Now with a new group of people we were tasked with even greater/ larger scale obstacles to tackle.
Having to come up with ways to accomplish these tasks and making them possible was only the first step. Lots of trouble shooting, brainstorming, drawing schematics, and of course listening to each other's ideas. Having everyone pitch ideas and working together taught communication, compromise, patience, teamwork and a myriad of other life skills. Everyone had their own unique ideas, experiences, and strengths which helped open up new possibilities and make the team stronger. We put in a lot of time and hard work but also had loads of fun working and growing together. Working with everyone and seeing our ideas become a reality was amazing. After all our hard work it was time to put it into practice. Again seeing what other schools came up with and putting them against each other was great! Even if we didn't do too well at first we had more ideas and drive for the next time. As time passed some people graduated but continued to visit and mentor the younger students to help improve the team. As the years passed we continued to grow together and help our younger peers grow as well. Im proud to say during my last year of high school, my team and I won the director's award for my generations last competition. Using all the knowledge, experiences and skills we have accumulated and also the help of our new and old teammates; we worked hard and made our dream a reality.
All the people I have met throughout the years and all the experiences I’ve had fueled my heart and mind and help me realize I can do whatever I put my mind to. Communicating with others and working together, there's nothing that can't be accomplished. Robotics has helped teach me so much and grow as a person. The experiences I’ve had over my years with robotics is a treasure I will hold onto always.
Joining the Robotics club (FRC Team 3111) was a spur of the moment decision that turned into an eye-opening experience I'll never forget. I joined the club along with my closest friends without a single thought about what we were getting ourselves into; other than the fact that we were going to build something we had only seen in anime, a real life robot. Unknowingly, as the days flew by, I gained an understanding of what it was like to work as part of a team. It was my first time learning how to build, program, and understand something so complex. We spent long nights sitting on the floor at school working on and repairing the robot; and everyday we faced a new set of challenges. However, in the end, we always felt a sense of accomplishment. During my two years in the robotics club, our team had the opportunity to compete in the NYC FIRST Robotics Competition at the Jacob Javits Convention Center twice and even though we didn't win first place, we always left with nothing but pride for our team.
Following my graduation from high school, I attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick and graduated with a degree in Theatre Arts and Korean. I’m currently working as an English Instructor at a daycare in Tokyo and plan on pursuing a Masters in Digital Marketing.
To conclude with a piece of advice, if you feel hesitant about joining the Robotics club due to a lack of experience or understanding, just remember that everything you’ll ever need to know is learned along the way.
- Sade Smith
I honestly don’t remember why I joined the North 13 Cougars Robotics team (FRC 3111) in 2009, but I’m pretty certain it was because Mr. Lorenzo and Mr. Ziobro told us we could make a fight club with robots. Or at least that’s how my mind processed it . . . In the beginning, I didn’t think we’d make much or win anything, but when the team finally came together and we were all given roles, things became more realistic and we all realized that we might actually be able to achieve something. We learned how to code and build a real 6 foot robot from scratch! And every time a new objective was accomplished, no matter how small, it felt like we reinvented the wheel. I still remember the joy on everyone’s face when we first saw our robot lift its arms while holding a ball. That year we needed to create a machine that could score points by putting balls into our opponents trailer box.
Game time! We arrived at the Jacob Javitz Convention Center in New York and finally got to see our competition, many of whom you could tell right off the bat had way more funding than we did. However, when the games started we discovered that it wasn’t just about fancy equipment and spiffy looking robots, but instead about how good your robot was at protecting its own trailer from team’s that had a strong offensive strategy. That year we didn’t win, but we made it pretty far for a cash-strapped rookie team from Newark, NJ. In all, I’m certain I’ll never forget my time in the robotics club: the cool techy things I learned, friends I made, and most of all the importance of not doubting yourself.
After graduating high school, I went to the University of Southern California to study Business Administration and Japanese. I now live and work in Tokyo for an NGO called Ashinaga, that provides educational and psychological support to orphaned students from Japan and Sub-Saharan Africa. And since we never stop learning, I’m currently looking into pursuing an MBA with an M.S. in Computer Science, so I can create my own venture. Finally, if I could share anything with the incoming robotics team members, it would be a quote by Robin Sharma.
“If people aren't laughing at your dreams, your dreams aren't big enough.”
My name is Luz Vargas and in high school I was part of the robotics team (FRC 3111) in what was then North 13th Street Vocational Technical High School (I feel old by the way ). I joined robotics my freshman year, it was also the first time my high school was introduced to robotics. The first year was amazing; we learned so much about building a robot and what it actually took. I mostly worked with coding along with other team members. I remember our first competition at FIRST Robotics as if it were yesterday. We didn’t know what to expect, but we told each other to just do our best and that would be enough. Out of 63 teams we placed 15th. Imagine our excitement, we didn’t even think we could of gone that far our first year of competing. This ignited our passion to continue to compete in the years to follow. Robotics to me became more like a family. I made friends for life and we all shared our excitement of build something we could call our own. It was a way to learn new things without being graded. We were expecting the robot to actually work and if it didn’t we would go back and change what was needed. That to me was the biggest lesson I learned and it applies to life in so many ways. When you don’t see results you go back fix what’s needed and get back to moving forward because life is not going to stop and you shouldn’t either. After High school I went to Bloomfield College and graduated with a Bachelors of Science degree in Business Administration: General Management. Let me tell you this, it sounds fancy but it’s A LOT of work. Just like anything you want in life, you must work to achieve it. I now work in the Finance department of a healthcare company and I am working on my Masters degree in Finance at NJCU. My journey is far from easy, I can’t promise you yours will be easy but I can promise you it’s worth it to follow your dreams because if you don’t then who will?