Who We Are • Our Team Values

Who We Are

We are a team of six Christian homeschool students from the Northwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.

Ryan

Ryan is the Robot Design Lead on Team STEELE and has competed on this team for three years. He just turned 15 years old and is a home educated Freshman whose interests include mathematics, science, and reading. He also enjoys hanging out with friends, watching the Cubs, and playing with his dog.

Barrett

Barrett is a 14 year old 8th grader. He enjoys fictional books, Lego's, and FPS/RPG's. Barrett likes playing games on the computer (go PC!) including Battlefield 2142, Crysis, and Wolfenstein. He has been playing the piano for 7 years and the trumpet for 2 years. He is excited to participate in FIRST LEGO League for his third year. 

Alexander

Alexander is a 14-year-old homeschooler. He thoroughly enjoys reading historical fiction and fantasy, and likes to build LEGO’s as well. Alexander has also taught himself computer application programming in two different computer languages, and is working on learning a third. He has taken piano lessons for 4½ years and participated in the 2007 NSMTA Sonatina Festival, winning a medal in the process. He has played baseball for eight years, and plans on playing again in the spring.

Zachary

Zachary is 12 years old.  He enjoys soccer (and any other sport with a ball), building creations with LEGO's, playing the piano, acting, and playing computer games!

Dylan

Dylan is an 12-year-old, home-educated boy who spends his free time reading fantasy novels and historical fiction, and playing with his brother and friends: LEGO's, baseball, and downhill skiing. He has studied piano for 6 years and participates in the Achievement in Music program (AIM). He has competed in the NSMTA Sonatina Festival since 2005 and won three medals. He also participates as the youngest member and keyboardist in a band which plays worship music for developmentally challenged adults.

Caleb

Caleb is 11 years old and likes baseball and football.  He has three sisters, five hamsters, and one fish.  He says his best friend is his sister Lydia!  He loves building with LEGO's!

Our Team Values

At one of our first team meetings we talked about what we value as a team. These are the things we came up with:

Teamwork

Means we work together. No one person dominates while the rest of us watch. We all get involved.

Excellence

We don't value just getting by. We want to do an excellent job. We want our robot to work consistently, not just some times. We want our lines to be memorized perfectly. We want our recommendations to be insightful and practical. We want to do our best.

Respect

We will respect each other. If we have a concern about something, we will speak up. If we have a conflict with a person, we will try to work it out with them directly. If we need help from a parent, we'll do that after we tried to work it out ourselves. We will respect the home we meet in and each other's possessions. We will speak respectfully to each other, our parents, our coach, and to those we work with.

Learn

We value learning! We want to learn new things, not just live off of what we've already learned.

Responsibility

We will do what we say. We will do our part. We will show up on time.