Denver Future Leaders Winner love creativity of robot building
Every school year, CBS Colorado and its partners, Chevron and Colorado School of Mines, honor high school students who are exceling in science, technology, engineering, or math, STEM. The Future Leaders winner get $1,000 and a profile on CBS News Colorado.
The newest Future Leaders winner is Evan Whistler, a senior from Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver.
It's a Saturday in December. A full month before the FIRST Robotics Competition begins, but Evan Whistler is hard at work at Thomas Jefferson High School.
"Right now, we're working on these chassis right here, so like the base of the robot, getting them moving," Whistler explained.
The Saturday Build Day is an opportunity for older team members to brush up their skills, and new team member to begin learning the skills they'll need when the competition begins.
"Like practicing building prototypes," Whistler added.
In one room he works with some younger students on the pneumatics of an older robot. In a second room he's practicing his skills on the computer numerical control or CNC milling machine, which is a mill that uses computer code to understand where to cut.
"I just love the creativity of it," he told First Alert Meteorologist Lauren Whitney. "When I got here it was just terrible for like the first two months where you're just like spending hours every day in here. But then, when you got to the competition, and you watch the thing you spent time and effort on, do well, it feels really great."
Whistler and his team did do well last year. They placed in the regional competitions.
"Our robot had to take these big orange foam rings and pick them up and shoot them into a pretty high target," Whistler explained.
"What was your contribution to the robot last year?" Whitney asked.
"I worked on the intake part so it would be able to drive over the ring and just scoop it up into the robot," he replied. "It worked almost flawlessly which was really nice to see especially since I put so much effort into it."
Whistler is a leader on the team, not only heading up the building of the intake, but also teaching younger students new skills.
"It's just so fun watching...like getting better myself but then also to be able to teach other people things that I know... like little tricks of the trade," he said.
Whistler has big plans for this year's robot, and he hopes to carry these skills into his future.
"I think I want to explore what there is...solve some problems because there are so many. It would just be nice to use a skill that I have like robotics and put that to good use."
In a world where so many things are out of control, Whistler finds comfort in being able to solve problems in the world of robotics.
LINK: Nominate a Future Leaders Candidate
CBS Colorado is currently accepting applications for its Future Leaders Award.
