Gear Up
TEAM #12499
THE TEAM THAT MADE IT TO THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN THEIR FIRST YEAR!
We are Team 12499 Gear Up, a FTC team, from San Diego, California. We are a team of eight students and are in our second year of FTC.
FIRST Tech Challenge is an out-of-school program for students, grades 7-12, to learn about the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) through hands-on learning of the field of robotics. Through the FIRST Tech Challenge program, our team builds and programs robots. These robots then compete at local competitions, with the potential of qualifying for the FIRST Tech Challenge Regional, and World Championship tournament. Our team was invited to compete at the World Championships in Houston during Relic Recovery.
Participating in FIRST Tech Challenge allows us to learn more about math and science while expanding our knowledge of careers involving computer programming, business, and engineering. As you may know, getting young people interested in these fields is very important, not only to our community but also to the world.
Coach Alex Hsu
I am Coach Alex Hsu. Legos were my favorite toy growing up (and still are!), which led me to become involved in Junior FLL when my twin children were in 3rd grade, starting in 2013. In 2014-2016 I helped mentor them and their friends through three seasons of FLL. After several challenging, successful, and fun-filled years of FLL, we are embarking on the next stage in FTC in 2017. For the past 10 years, I have been a physician in the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, working as a radiologist for Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, California.
Coach Wayne Solomon
Hi, I’m Coach Wayne Solomon. I have been very fortunate to mentor this wonderful group of kids for several seasons of FLL, and have continued to enjoy watching them grow as they “Gear Up” for their first season of FTC. The FIRST program is an inspiration for both me and the kids, and I’m a little jealous that it wasn’t around when I was growing up! I’m a PhD physicist working on fusion energy development, and am currently the Deputy Director of the DIII-D National Fusion Program at General Atomics. We operate the largest operating fusion device in the United States, the DIII-D tokamak, and it is very exciting to be involved in a world-wide collaborative effort to try to solve the energy needs of the world for the future.
THE TEAM THAT MADE IT TO THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN THEIR FIRST YEAR!
We are team 12499 Gear Up, a FTC team, from San Diego, California. We are a group of seven students and are in our third year of FTC.
FIRST Tech Challenge is an out-of-school program for students, grades 7-12, to learn about the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) through hands-on learning of the field of robotics. Through the FIRST Tech Challenge program, our team builds and programs robots. These robots then compete at local competitions, with the potential of qualifying for the FIRST Tech Challenge Regional, and World Championship tournament. Our team was invited to compete at the World Championships in Houston during the season of Relic Recovery.
Participating in FIRST Tech Challenge allows us to learn more about math and science while expanding our knowledge of careers involving computer programming, business, and engineering. As you may know, getting young people interested in these fields is very important, not only to our community, but also to the world.
Coach Alex Hsu
I am Coach Alex Hsu. Legos were my favorite toy growing up (and still are!), which led me to become involved in Junior FLL when my twin children were in 3rd grade, starting in 2013. In 2014-2016 I helped mentor them and their friends through three seasons of FLL. After several challenging, successful, and fun-filled years of FLL, we are embarking on the next stage in FTC in 2017. For the past 10 years, I have been a physician in the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, working as a radiologist for Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, California.
Coach Morris Tseng
Hi, I am Coach Morris Tseng. I have two years of experience coaching FLL teams and assisting the two teams to be recognized with awards during regionals and Southern California Championship Tournaments. It is my great pleasure to start my FTC journey with “Gear-Up” this year in the 2019-2020 season. During my childhood, I was constantly fascinated by the complicated machinery of clocks, small appliances, remote control toys, and always took them apart and tried to figure out how these things work. I believe my parent would have really appreciated it if an activity like FLL or FTC existed during my childhood to avoid buying endless clocks and appliances (of course not toys). In my personal life, I am a bench scientist with specialization in protein chemistry. Currently, I am the lead scientist of protein production group at Ominome Inc.
JJ Siu
Hi, I am JJ Siu and I am 15 years old. Currently I am an 9th grader at the Westview. I have been in FIRST programs for the last 6 years. I enjoy FTC because I really enjoy doing things involving STEM. Also, I like to learn and program in java. Now that I am on Gear Up, I enjoy helping programming the robot and helping with adjusting the design of the robot. I am a driver and a programmer. Some things I like to do in my free time is to play tennis, I like to help with Audio/Visual stuff for worship and serve at my church, CEC. I also love playing the alto saxophone. My favorite aspects of FTC is to build and program the robot.
Zubin Cheruvallath
My name is Zubin Cheruvallath. I am a member of the FTC Team 12499, Gear Up. My main focuses are CAD and driving. I have done FIRST for six years, starting with Jr. FLL and three years of FLL. This is my second year competing in FTC. I go to Westview High School, and I am in ninth grade. I enjoy doing anything that includes technology and the way things work. For example, I have been participating in FIRST events since I was in third grade. I am also obsessed with Overwatch, Legos, YouTube, and Netflix. I also like basketball, so the spirit of gracious professionalism, and coopertition, is already within me.
Tai Hsu
My name is Tai Hsu. I started FIRST in third grade, doing one year of Jr. FLL, three years of FLL, and this year is my second year of FTC. I am in 9th grade and am fifteen years old. I attend Westview High School along with all of the other team members. My specialty is building and driving. I also know how to play various instruments such as the alto and baritone saxophone, and the piano. I also compete in swimming and I enjoy it very much. I joined FIRST because I wanted to learn more about robotics.
Maya Hsu
My name is Maya Hsu.This is my fifth year in the FIRST program and my third in FTC. I prefer building and driving the robot. I am currently a freshman at Westview High School and I am fifteen. I joined FIRST because I was interested in engineering a robot. My brother, Tai, is also on the FTC team. I love drawing and constructing robots. I do many extracurricular activities other than FIRST, such as Speech and Debate, Key club, Japanese, and swim team. I enjoy working on the engineering book and building the robot with my team.
Richard Tseng
My name is Richard Tseng and I am fifteen years old. I am a 9th grader who attends Westview High School. On the team, I am a head outreach, scout, and driver. Outside of FTC, I enjoy watching anime, listening to music, drawing, playing sports, and playing the violin. The reason I joined FIRST was that I had an interest in robots and wanted to know how they worked. I am interested in the mechanisms that runs I started in FLL, which I found very interesting, and moved up to FTC after a few years when I joined team Gear Up. I enjoy FIRST because it gives me the opportunity to work on robots with my friends.
Anika Yadav
Hi, my name is Anika Yadav, and I’m an 8th grader who attends Mesa Verde Middle School. I supervise our engineering notebook and also like driving/programming the robot when I get the chance. I am a very artistic person and love sports. I do basketball, swim team, and Indian classical dancing. I also really like robotics. I have been doing FLL for two years and this is my second year doing FTC. Some reasons I joined FIRST are that I really like how kids like my age get a rare opportunity to be a part of something big and get to learn robotics. I love seeing my friends and although winning is a great thing, I think the most important part is to try, work hard, and have fun. I am a goofy and funny child and truly hope that I meet new people, make new friends, and just enjoy the journey that robotics takes me.
Justin Wu
My name is Justin Wu. I’m a freshman at Westview High School and I’m fourteen years old. This is my first year doing FTC, and my second year in the FIRST program, having done Jr. FLL in third grade. Outside of robotics, I enjoy playing cello and am an assistant principal in the highest-level orchestra in the San Diego Youth Symphony. I also like doing math and physics, programming in C++, and playing video games. I wanted to join FTC because I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to learn Java, a language I have always wanted to learn, and work with a team. I was very excited when my friends who were on the team asked me if I wanted to join as a programmer. I hope to continue participating in FTC in the future.
Retired Members
Coach Shankar Parasaram
Hi, I’m Coach Shankar Parasaram. I am a Metallurgical engineer by training and a computer engineer by profession. I have been programming from my university days and I now lead a team at Razer USA Ltd that designs and develops software for cell phones. It was really gratifying to teach programming to kids and see the young minds develop the skill and become creative at it. It is also an excellent experience working with the other coaches and parents with a common goal of imparting the STEM experience onto our kids. Kudos to the ‘First’ program for giving us all this opportunity.
Coach Wayne Solomon
Hi, I’m Coach Wayne Solomon. I have been very fortunate to mentor this wonderful group of kids for several seasons of FLL, and have continued to enjoy watching them grow as they “Gear Up” for their first season of FTC. The FIRST program is an inspiration for both me and the kids, and I’m a little jealous that it wasn’t around when I was growing up! I’m a PhD physicist working on fusion energy development, and am currently the Deputy Director of the DIII-D National Fusion Program at General Atomics. We operate the largest operating fusion device in the United States, the DIII-D tokamak, and it is very exciting to be involved in a world-wide collaborative effort to try to solve the energy needs of the world for the future.
Sri Parasaram
My name is Sri Parasaram. I am 15 years old and I attend Mesa Verde Middle School. One of my favorite hobbies is playing basketball. Playing basketball has taught me Core Values which I will carry on to FTC. I also like playing videogames with my friends. Playing video games with friends has taught me how to work as a team which will help me in FTC and life. I have been participating in the FIRST program for the past four years. I have been to Legoland and last year, we achieved runner up champion at the Southern California FLL Regionals! I like to involve myself in all aspects of FTC, but, I am primarily a CADer and a driver. I joined FIRST for my love of robotics and just having fun with friends.
Lucas Solomon
My name is Lucas Solomon. I’m an ninth grader at Mesa Verde Middle School and I’m fourteen years old. I am a driver and an exceptional programmer. I have been doing FIRST for six years and this is my 2nd year of FTC. We are learning how to program and build the robot and were mentoring FLL team 39384, Space Survivors. You get mentored and you mentor someone else and give back to the FIRST community. As well as FTC, I do many extracurricular activities. I play the piano and do karate as well as some 3D printing. I enjoy the FIRST program because it is a once in a lifetime opportunity and prepares kids for the jobs of the future. I will do FIRST for many years to come and enjoy the fun experience.