2009 Woodie Flowers Essay

Our 2009 Woodie Flowers Essay was, once again, written for our long time mentor, Mr. Paul Slaby.

At first glance, Mr. Paul Slaby’s humorous personality doesn’t fit that of a recipient of the Woodie Flowers Award. However, after being around Mr. Slaby (or Paul as we all call him) I have learned a lot more about his character and realized why he is such a great mentor. His ability to build a robot, teach students, and have fun all at the same time has inspired me to write this essay on why his work should be acknowledged.

US FIRST Team 245, the AdamBots, was founded eleven years ago by Mr. Gibson, a teacher at Rochester Adams High School. Paul joined as a mentor. Mr. Gibson has since left, and other mentors have come and gone, but Mr. Slaby has remained with us through the years.

Every year, during the FIRST season, Paul puts in long hours in the workshop, helping us build the best robot we can. His 80 mile round-trip drive doesn't stop him from coming every weekend, Saturday and Sunday, often from nine to five, and occasionally on week nights. Afterwards, he drives home to mentor his local high school's FIRST robotics team until ten o'clock at night. I witnessed an example of Paul’s dedication during the build season this year. Paul was getting ready to leave because we thought we were all done. However, since we hadn’t assembled the bumpers yet, Paul stayed the extra two hours to help me staple together our six bumpers. This year, his persistence and leadership helped us finish our robot a week early, the earliest it’s ever been completed.

Paul is also a strong advocate for safety. I experienced Paul’s concern for safety first-hand in 2007, during my first trip into the workshop. Paul caught me without eye protection and joked, “Hey kid! Who do you think you are? Superman? Let me get you some glasses.” Paul humorously made his point, and I’ve always remembered to wear my safety glasses.

The workshop, however, is not where Mr. Slaby's involvement stops. In May, Paul hosts our end-of-the-year picnic and helps cook lots of great food. Additionally, he coordinates our Tech Days, during summer vacation, where we work on ambitious projects that we don’t have time for during the school year. Even in fall, when we participate in the county robotics league, OCCRA, Paul takes the time to attend our competitions to cheer on the team. Since our beginning, Paul has also provided us with a place to build the robot and arranged for sponsorship so the team could afford materials and the fees for the competitions. Last year, however, our main sponsor was bought out by another company, and Paul worked relentlessly on our team’s behalf to convince the new company to be our sponsor and to continue using their facilities. Unfortunately, the new company was unable to continue sponsoring us, but Paul worked with our other mentors to make arrangements for a new team build location.

Last year, due to the rough economy, Paul lost his job. Despite this, he continues driving his 80 mile round-trip to mentor our team. It doesn’t surprise us that Paul has recently taken a new job with FEMA, where he will again be helping other people with his skills. This year marks Paul’s 11th year mentoring Team 245. He has contributed greatly to the fun and success of our team, and we feel strongly that his unselfish, humble, amusing, and dedicated character is something that should be recognized.