HZR Volunteer of the Year

December 7, 2013
Chip and Marty have been mentors since their two boys have gone through the program at HHS back in 2010.  Mr. Brady has helped to set up and run over 50 events at HMS and continues to this day.  Mr. DeBerardino was named the 'Mentor of the Year' in 2014 and still returns to help with the Stampede.

December 2, 2017
Mrs. Gufstafson headed up our vrc concessions for the Stampede for many years. This job is a big part of our events and her fundraising have helped our program be able to afford parts for the students' builds.

November 10, 2018
Mrs. Crowley, along with Mrs. Beth Ryan, lead the robotics program at Sparks Elementary School.  Jill's efforts with her teams have created a feeder system to HMS and HHS that helps us to continue to be competitive in Maryland.  In addition, her son went through the program and Jill volunteered where needed.  For many years Jill and Beth have been running our skills fields at home events.

Dec 2, 2017
Long time contributors to HZR, Steve was a mentor while his boys were at HMS and Sheila has volunteered long after her boys moved on to Calvert Hall.
The CHC / HZR collaboration that was formed has helped to promote STEM across the Baltimore community.

December 4, 2021
Mr. Dindigul has been a Judge Advisor for our tournaments, both IQ and VRC for many years.  His fairness and attention to detail has helped us deliver a very consistent process of judging teams both in qualifiers and state championships. In addition, Sri annually has judged at VEX Worlds.  In doing, he has kept up with the ongoing rule changes so that HZR events are at their highest level. 

February 25, 2017
Mr. Eckhart has been a long time volunteer judge at HZR events.  His compassion for students is beyond compare. Pictured above, those students are now high school graduates.   Thank you to your dedication to our young STEM students, Gene!

April 24, 2014
The Mentor of the Year award is presented to a mentor or engineer that has helped students achieve goals that were seemingly out of reach. This individual is a role model, a leader and an extraordinary mentor who helps show students new ways to expand their knowledge and solve problems in the world of STEM.
See his STEM Hall of Fame page
https://roboticseducation.org/inspiration_all_star/chip-diberardino/

December 3, 2022
Mrs. Simkins has been volunteering since day 1 of her 2 children starting robotics at HMS.  She has also volunteered at VEX Worlds as a Judge and Inspector.

Mr. DeCamp also has 2 children in HZR.  He is one of the first to sign up, helps to build the event on Fridays and is there on Saturday to help whereever possible.  Up until this year, that meant assisting at IQ events AND vrc events!

November 18, 2023
Mrs. Myers has been right there offering to run concessions, a big task.  Her daughter is in IQ but she did not hesitate to offer her skill at concessions for VRC Stampede and States.

Mrs. O'Connor stepped up right away to help with refereeing.  This means a full commitment to taking the annual courses for IQ and VRC, studying up on the rules and passing the exam. We appreciate that Susan is right there when we need a referee for both IQ and VRC, (which is every time).

December 2, 2023
We can't say enough about our gratitude to Ms. Strong!  She has refereed at 99.9% of events in the Baltimore City and County tournaments held since before 2012.  Ms. Strong has refereed at every one of our 11 HZR Stampedes *since 2012.  If you see her, please thank Ms. Strong.

December 2, 2023
Parents of Alexis, Aiden, and Devin
For many years, the Zahns have  always been there volunteering where ever we needed them.  Recently they chose to be the lead on the NTHS concessions.  Just another reason that we are so grateful to their unwavering support of the HZR program.

Congratulations to Tim Krispin, the 2024 Volunteer of the Year recipient at the Maryland Middle School VRC Middle School State Championship! Mr Krispin is the mentor for the Sparks 4H vex team 24 club. Tim is always available to help with set up, with running events, and will go out of his way to help any team.  Always with encouraging words for teams, Tim recognizes and practices student centered methods with students.   The 24 club website speaks to his philosophy of scholastic robotics - ‘The Character of Excellence

Be humble in your success

Learn from your failures

In everything, be grateful

In all things, do your best’