Before I started college, I was a cadet in a youth program 

run by the Air Force called Civil Air Patrol, which I am 

still involved in today. There, I learned aerospace, leadership, 

ethics, and military discipline. Since it was a hierarchical 

structure, I spent my share of time teaching the junior cadets. 

   Later on at UC Santa Barbara, where I earned my mechanical 

engineering degree, I often became the team leader for projects in 

different classes, largely due to my industry experience. Frankly, at 

institutions such as the UCs, the primary goal is often to create novel 

and cutting-edge research rather than producing engineers with 

practical knowledge for industry. I often found myself explaining 

the different engineering processes, techniques, and materials  

to my  fellow  teammates  and  giving them the opportunity to 

learn and progress more fully. Eventually, I became a teaching 

assistant for one of the school’s engineering classes. I enjoyed that 

type of mentoring and teaching and it led me to teaching today.  

At  the lower end of the age spectrum, middle school students 

are young and full of excitement. They are starting to explore 

the world more and learn about themselves; it’s a critical point 

to plant the thought of pursuing a STEM career  into  their 

minds.  Also at this time,   they  are  developing   the  ability 

to  have abstract thoughts, which becomes particularly 

important when learning science and math.  A  class  like 

robotics is where everything  starts to come together. 

   At the upper end, the older students are well-versed in 

math and science, and generally have a good idea of what 

direction to go. I firmly believe that our students are capable 

of working at a college level and this gives me a chance to 

further push them in the direction that they want to go.  

 

Robotics is a semester-long elective. It starts in grade seven and 

runs through grade 12, with different building sets for Middle 

and Upper School classes. The goal of this class is to generate 

interest in STEM as we combine these fields to create useful 

machines. An example of a project we do in class is programming 

a robot to navigate a maze without getting stuck anywhere along 

the walls or edges. It is important to use distance sensors so that 

the robots have feedback and move precise distances. Another 

example is building and programming robots to pick up blocks 

of a certain color and stack them. Students are allowed to repeat 

the class and continue working on building robots for competition 

while learning more advanced programming and mechanics.  

I try to teach my classes as exploratory labs. I keep the lectures 

to a minimum and let the students uncover things through 

hands-on learning. It gives them the chance to play around 

and make their own discoveries, which can give them a greater 

feeling of accomplishment and responsibility for their learning.  

 

 

 

I expect all of my students to walk away with a basic 

understanding of structured programming. Most of my students 

have already learned the basic physics behind the mechanisms 

we’re building. Programming requires a lot of abstract thinking, 

but it becomes easier if the students can break things down 

into small steps and organize them. It’s somewhat like essay 

writing: statements can be moved around but it doesn’t 

mean it’ll make sense, and punctuation mistakes will ruin 

it. I’m teaching them to think like a programmer so they can 

apply those skills to other advanced classes moving forward. 

 

 

Laguna Blanca’s program is unique because students can begin 

getting involved in STEM starting with our LEGO classes in the 

Lower School and continue building—literally—on those skills 

through the end of high school. As I learn, and as students learn, we 

can better develop robotics classes into a comprehensive program 

that spans from elementary through high school. We’re fortunate 

to have seasoned faculty with industry experience who teach at the 

college level. This helps build practical classes and also allows us to 

challenge our students beyond traditional learning. 

YOU EARNED YOUR DEGREE IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING.  

WHEN DID YOU DECIDE TO START TEACHING?

WHY MIDDLE SCHOOL AND UPPER SCHOOL?

CAN YOU EXPLAIN HOW THE ROBOTICS PROGRAM WORKS?

WHAT IS YOUR APPROACH IN HELPING THE STUDENTS GRASP THE 

ROBOTICS CONCEPTS?

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT YOUR STUDENTS TO LEARN IN THE ROBOTICS 

CURRICULUM?

WHAT MAKES LAGUNA’S ROBOTICS CURRICULUM SO SPECIAL?

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