Heather Lin
New Teacher for Mid-Level Lego Robotics class in Fall 2018
We are excited to announce that Heather Lin will join PCS as our teacher for the Lego Robotics class (mid-level) starting the Fall semester 2018. Heather has won numerous champions/medals in the FLL and FTC competitions. Below is part of her self-introduction to PCS.
I am a sophomore at Winston Churchill High School. I have a strong passion is teaching and robotics. My previous robotics experience includes 4 years of FIRST Lego League (FLL) competitions and participation. I competed as the team captain, and lead my team to earn the 2nd place robotics performance award at the Maryland State Championships as well as qualify to an international competition in Arkansas. I now build robots for FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) as the team captain and lead mechanical engineer. My past teaching experience includes a year of teaching 7 students grades 4-8 to compete in FLL. The team eventually earning 2nd place robotic performance award at their qualifying competition in 2018. From my passion for education, I have taken an up a project to create an educational robotics kit and was recently granted $1500 to pursue that project. Aside from robotics, I am also a participant in the Montgomery County Science Fair and Winston Churchill’s Science Olympiad Team. I hold a strong passion for robotics and educating our young generation. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to teach the next group of young engineers!
Here is a not-so-short list of her achievements.
EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES & LEADERSHIP POSITIONS
FIRST Robotics Team Member September 2013 – Ongoing
- Team Captain of FLL Team 12803 Wifi Wizards (2014 - 2017)
- Team Captain of FTC Team 12518 Almond Robotics (2017-18)
- Coach of FLL Team 12803 Team Tofu (2017-18)
AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
FIRST Programs ( https://firstinmaryland.org/ )
- 2 times 1st Place Champions Award at FLL Qualifying Championships
- 2nd Place Robotic Performance Award at FLL Maryland State Championships
- International Qualifier & Representative for Maryland at Razorback Invitational FLL
- 3rd & 5th Place Champions Award at FLL Maryland State Championships
- 2nd & 3rd Place Inspire Award at FTC Qualifying Champions
Science Olympiad
- 2nd Place; Optics, Invasive Species, Sumobots Qualifying Championships - Middle School Division
- 1st Place Sumobot at Maryland State Championships - Middle School Division
- 3rd & 4th Place; Mission Possible, Invasive Species - Middle School Division
- 4th Place; Mission Possible - High School Division
Montgomery County Science Fair, MD
- Honorable Mention in Engineering Category (2016)
- Prize for Outstanding Achievement by Optical Society of America (2016)
- 2nd Place in Engineering Category (2018)
- 3rd Place Prize for Outstanding Achievement by National Security Association (2018)
Community Outreach
- Testified at Maryland State Taxation and Budget Committee for rental tax-exempt for property owners for robotics programs. Cybersecurity Competitions
- CMU Cyber Security: 1,805th out of 28,567, picoCTF ( https://picoctf.com/ )
- PaCTF Top 100 Team ( https://2018.pactf.com/ )
FUNDING SUPPORT
- A $275 grant from Montgomery County Volunteer Center to host the “My First Robot” project on Martin Luther King Day of Service (2018)
- A $100 grant from USRA/Rockwell Collin to support my FTC team outreach effort
- A $500 gift card from Actobotics as one of the 20 teams nationwide they sponsored (2017-2108)
- A $500 sponsorship from ESi ( http://www.engsys.com/ ) (2017-2018)
- A $475 grant from Qualcomm to support my FTC team (2017-2018)
- $2600 donation from the parents of the FLL team I coached ( 2017-2018)
- $1500 Grant from Kurt Giessler Foundation for Youth Achievement for project titled (“Hello Robot!”) - An Early Age Robotics Education Kit
MEDIA COVERAGE
- Featured as one of the two young inventors in Voice of America Interview at National Maker Faire 2017 (https://www.voanews.com/a/3388026.html)
- Interviewed for Bethesda Magazine 2017
- Ambition Grant Winner Kurt Giessler Foundation for Youth Achievement (http://kurtgiessler.com/mission--awards.html)
Heather Lin will be the teacher for the mid-level Lego Robotics class in Fall 2018. We welcome all the current students in the Lego Robotics class to register this mid-level class. This class requires the students to have obtained basic skillset of the robotics. All the students will be divided into several teams to participate simulated FLL competitions, going through different but interesting projects.
PCS is also actively looking for a teacher for a beginner level Lego Robotics class. Stay tuned.