Chesterfield couple help L.C. Bird’s Robohawks soar

Official FIRST Robotics Team regional competitions are in March and April, according to Liz Elkovich, a team mentor. The 2012 championship event is in April in St. Louis, Mo., she said. Summer competitions are just to promote FIRST Robotics, according to Elkovich. Photo courtesy of Jim Babb Communications Paul and Liz Elkovich have the same advice for anyone considering becoming a mentor: Just do it.

The Chesterfield couple serve as mentors to L.C. Bird High School’s FIRST Robotics Team 346—aka the Robohawks. And they’ve been doing so since their daughters Laura, now 26, and Andrea, now 23, participated in the program.

Paul Elkovich, who has a degree in mechanical engineering and is a vice president with Alstom Power in Midlothian, said he continues mentoring because it keeps him in touch with the younger generation. His wife, Liz, echoed that sentiment, adding that spending time with young people keeps her young. “They’re just such great kids. They’re so bright,” she said.

There are two other reasons why Liz Elkovich mentors. Mentoring “is something my husband and I can do together” and “this is what we can do for our community,” she said.

And then there’s the FIRST program itself. For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, founded in 1989, is “a not-for-profit public charity that designs accessible, innovative programs that motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math, while building self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills,” according to USfirst.org.

“FRC [FIRST Robotics Competition] combines the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology. Under strict rules, limited resources, and time limits, teams of 25 students or more are challenged to raise funds, design a team “brand,” hone teamwork skills, and build and program robots to perform prescribed tasks against a field of competitors,” according to the website.

Virginiafirst.org shows that there are 64 Virginia FIRST Robotics Competition teams for 2012, including two in Chesterfield — the one at L.C. Bird High School and one at Midlothian High School.

Paul Elkovich said the challenge and excitement of working with the students in the competitions keep him involved with the robotics team. “And obviously you like to win. We have some trophies that are nice to have,” he said.

He said what surprised him about serving as a mentor for the robotics team is that he’s stayed with it even though his daughters are no longer involved. “I didn’t realize the impact it has on you personally. Once you get a bite of it, it’s difficult to make a decision to pull away from it.”

Nancy Hoover, coordinator of the Virginia Governor’s Academy for Engineering Studies at L.C. Bird High School and, as such, one of the faculty sponsors of FIRST Robotics Team 346, wrote in an email that Paul Elkovich has served as the lead mentor ever since she became a faculty sponsor in 2005.

“He leads the team through the design process and guides/directs the project management of this very complex task,” she wrote. “[His] experience as an engineer is invaluable to our students because he models project management for the team in such a way the students gain a real [appreciation] for the detail to which a project manager must operate.”

Liz Elkovich sees herself more as a “team mom” rather than a mentor. “Basically I keep [the students] in line, out of trouble.” She chaperones and helps students gather materials for the team’s promotional items. And she is their cheerleader.

In an email, Hoover said she sees Liz Elkovich as “the quintessential ‘team mom.’” Hoover said Liz Elkovich “will do whatever is necessary. She shows unwavering support for the team by allowing her home to become the procurement headquarters for all the parts/ items her husband is constantly acquiring for our team!” can we cut rest of quote, again to move story along faster.

It’s the mentor’s job, Paul Elkovich said, “to take the students’ ideas and [help the students] turn them into a working machine or a working robot. He said “80 to 90 percent of what we build is done by the students.”

“A good mentor is one that encourages the students to really participate – and students participate in different ways,” he said, including website design, programming, fundraising and arranging face paint for the competitions. “Our role is to utilize the students and get them to participate where they feel most comfortable.”

He said the key is to get the students to participate as freshmen. That year is a learning experience, he said, and then they figure out what they want to do.

A good mentor has patience, Liz Elkovich said. “Most of these kids, unless they have tinkered with cars or lawnmowers, they come in [to the robotics program] with no background whatsoever.” Few have used power tools, she said.

She explained that during Robohawk University, which occurs during the fall weekly meetings of the team, students learn the different aspects of building a robot — including power tool safety, which, she said, every student must take before working on a robot.

“We have upwards of 15 mentors or so — they all serve in varying capacities from working with small groups on the business side of things to organizing parents for specific events to just being on standby to lend a hand by making something for us in their machine shop,” Hoover said via email.

What has surprised Liz Elkovich most about mentoring? She said the “absolute dedication” on the part of the mentors.

“Our goal is to bring in more students, make them feel part of the team and give them the best set of tools and knowledge they can get from their experience,” Paul Elkovich said. Liz Elkovich said her goal is to have the students learn something. “I don’t care if they walk away and all they’ve learned is how to use a drill properly.”

But, she also hopes they learn “gracious professionalism,” a term coined by a FIRST advisor that means “a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community,” according to the FIRST website.