Our Mentors

Mr. Powell has been a mentor for the North Kingstown High School FTC Teams since the program's inception in 2007. He is the STEM Curriculum Coordinator for the North Kingstown School Department and the Academy of Engineering and Robotics at North Kingstown High School.  He teaches Physics and Engineering Courses NKHS.

Ms. Shields is new to the FTC Community, this being her first year as a mentor in our program. She has been teaching science, robotics and special education courses at NKHS for three years, picking up skills in Lego EV3, PITSCO TETRIX and Modern Robotics robot design/control systems and programming, and her Robotics 1 course during the first semester of this school year served as a beta test group for the Modern Robotics Fusion Controller, an all-in-one solution for robot control that allows clients to talk directly with the robot without the need of Android devices. Ms. Shields was instrumental in the formation of our newest FTC Team, The Robo-Cats from Wickford Middle School, and we are extremely grateful she has joined our team. Thank you, Ms. Shields!

Tom is a 2019 graduate of North Kingstown High School, where he spent two years in our FTC program. Starting as a programmer, and later becoming Team Leader of Team 9219, Tom also spent time helping to enhance communication and collaboration between the multiple NORTH Robotics FTC Teams, and also worked to revamp and enhance the program's digital presence and advertising. Additionally, he served as the Event Director for our annual Holiday Battle Scrimmage in 2017 and 2018, increasing attendance to over 24 Teams in 2018.

Tom currently works for New England FIRST, facilitating outreach and delivery of grant funding provided by the Rhode Island Governor's Workforce Board to prospective FIRST Teams in urban areas of Rhode Island. Additionally, he serves as a FIRST Technical Advisor for FTC in New Hampshire and Rhode Island, and as an FTA Assistant and Control Systems Advisor for FIRST Robotics Competition District Events in New England.