Olivia Shoemaker Essay

Olivia Shoemaker is a vital part of TJ². Only a sophomore at Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School she is often mistaken as a junior or senior by mentors and her peers. Her expertise and time she donates to TJ² and FIRST make her a rare talent. Not only does she have a great attitude but she is consistently open to learning new things. There is not student in the build room that the mentors would rather have helping them on a difficult task than Olivia. She immediately gets the "feel" for manufacturing that takes most high school students years to acquire. One mentor with over 2 decades of mentoring FIRST teams says, “I cannot recall a student that has acquired the knack of making robots as quickly and as deeply as Olivia.”
One of Olivia skills is her approach on problem solving. She thinks through the problem to solve it herself. Her self-reliance and critical thinking skills are beyond students her age. It is difficult to believe that she has only been apart of TJ² for two years! She has not had physics at the high school level yet but can understand physics on a conceptual level. FIRST alone, has given her the tools to understand ideas like Newton’s laws or fundamentals of electricity on a conceptual basis. She …show more content…
She acts as a natural leader, never telling someone how something is done. Instead, she walks her peers through the process, taking time to connect with them in a way only a fellow student can. Her focus and drive inspires mentors who watch with awe as she grasps a new challenge with excitement and ease. Between her compassion, thoughtful questioning and determination Olivia encompases what FIRST is looking for in their students. Her experience with FIRST has ignited the desire for a lifelong journey of meeting the challenges offered by technology and engineering. She would be an exceptional candidate for 2017 Dean’s