FIRST Robotics Competition Blog

We are very sorry to announce that Jessica Boucher will be leaving the role of FRC Chief Volunteer Coordinator. In that role over the past two years, Jess has been a very valuable resource to all of FIRST but especially to FRC Volunteer Coordinators and to Rookie Volunteer Coordinators. Jess has worked hard as the “go to” person at Championship for all field VC’s and has been instrumental in creating a smooth coordinated Einstein transition for both teams and volunteers. We thank Jess for all she has done for FIRST and wish her only the best of luck moving forward.

We are happy to announce that we have two Co-Chief Volunteer Coordinators for the 2017 FRC season and for the FIRST^® Championship.

Laurie Shimizu is a recently retired journalist with 25 years of experience. She has been involved with FIRST^® since 2005 when her son needed help with his FIRST Robotics Competition team. Laurie has been a Championship Volunteer Coordinator for eight years and is the Lead Volunteer Coordinator for four Minnesota Regional Events. Laurie is also a FIRST Senior Mentor in Minnesota and is an expert on volunteer recruitment and training. For Laurie, FIRST is a year round focus and she has been instrumental in the dramatic growth of FIRST programs in Minnesota.

Jess Jankowitsch  brings 18 years of FIRST experience to the role of Co-Chief Volunteer Coordinator. Jess started as an FLL and FRC (Cybersonics Technology Team - 103) team member in Pennsylvania. She is presently the Program Director at FIRST in Texas. Jess has been a Championship  Volunteer Coordinator for eight years and the Lead Volunteer Coordinator in the FRC Pits since 2009. She has served as the Alamo Assistant Regional Director and Volunteer Coordinator since 2010 and was the Volunteer Coordinator for the Pittsburgh Regional for four years. Jess has also served across all FIRST programs as a key volunteer, judge, events coordinator, team mentor, and FIRST Senior Mentor. She earned a Bachelors degree from Carnegie Mellon University and a Masters degree in Developmental Psychology (with a Neuroscience focus) from the University of Texas at Austin.

Please join us in welcoming our new Co-Chief Volunteer Coordinators!