1. Congratulations on being qualified for the Dean’s List! Can you share what achievements or contributions led to your qualification?

I believe my most important achievement is the creation of a distribution platform romanian robotics part orders. I, with the support of my team, have created a system for the First Tech Challenge organisers in Romania to keep their inventory and efficiently distribute orders to robotics teams all around romania. This has helped the entire community by cutting the shipping time from months to just weeks.

2. What specific projects or initiatives did you undertake within your team or community that contributed to your Dean’s List qualification?

I have had projects that reached all corners of the community. Firstly, I have visited middle and high schools to tell them about the FIRST community and how and why they could get involved. I have also held a speech in front of many business leaders and potential sponsors for the competition in Romania and for teams. And finally I have held speeches in front of the public interested in technology, innovation and the future generation.

3. How do you plan to leverage your Dean’s List recognition to further advance the mission of FIRST and inspire others?

This award will bring great benefits to me, my team and the FIRST community in romania. I wish to leverage this award by bringing knowledge from international teams back to romania. Other than this I wish to help increase funding for both the FIRST competition and for new teams that may not be as experienced. I will also continue promoting FIRST programs in schools and at all events I can. 

On a personal basis, I want to leverage this award as an opportunity to improve myself and my leadership skills.

4. What personal goals do you have moving forward as a Dean’s List student within the FIRST community?

My greatest goal in the near future is to further improve the Robot Link platform. Robotlink is a platform made for robotics teams which allows them to upload their engineering notebooks and robots in order to showcase their achievements and to help rookie teams learn from their work. Last year we developed and integrated an AI that analyses and gives suggestions based on what you already wrote. This year, we wish to implement a place that allows teams and sponsors to connect easier and quicker. This will allow teams to find sponsors quicker and sponsors to help multiple teams at once.

5. How do you envision your role evolving within your team and the broader FIRST community now that you have achieved Dean’s List status?

Ever since getting here I have talked to lots of First Tech Challenge teams about the structure and roles in their team. With all the knowledge gained here, my role in the team will evolve into keeping the skills of the members up to date and to help our recruits prosper as quickly as possible. This award has allowed me to act as the bond between us and the FIRST community.

6. In what ways do you hope to continue promoting leadership and advocacy for STEM education and robotics beyond your current achievements?

Our primary goal for next season is not only to recruit highschoolers all around Romania in our team, but to empower future leaders by creating First Tech Challenge teams in all the schools in our region.