Carolyn Baird
11th Grade
Hi! I’m Carolyn Baird, a junior at Eagle High. I like all things STEM and love learning new things, which is one reason I like robotics. Other than FTC, I also participate in other extracurriculars. I play on the varsity tennis team, am a member of NHS, sing in my school’s top audition choir, and am a varsity debater. In my free time, I like to spend time with family and friends, read books, do art, and be creative. I’m interested in a career in engineering in the future, and FTC helps me learn more about that. On our team, I focus on the mechanical side. I like working with others to find solutions to problems.
Megan Baird
9th Grade
I’m Megan Baird, 14 years old, and a freshman at Eagle High. I’m mainly a programmer on the team, but I’ll help with the other parts too. I like robotics because it’s a fun challenge to see how to make things work together to achieve a certain goal, and I also wanted to learn new things. My dad was the one who got me interested in coding and has taught me bits and involved me in it since elementary school. I’m hoping to go into some STEM job, specifically a software developer or virologist. Some of my other hobbies include tennis, art, and procrastinating homework. I also enjoy music and play the violin and piano. I’m excited to learn more and have a fun year with the Bananas.
Kavya Bansal
9th Grade
Hello there! My name is Kavya, and I’m 13 years old. I’m in 9th grade at Renaissance High School. My role on the team is very flexible, as I do mechanical, programming, and media. Out of these, I am best at programming and enjoy it most. I have done a lot of coding before FTC, from Hour of Code in elementary school to computer vision and artificial intelligence in 7th grade. I am also taking a year-long engineering course as an elective at school. I love reading novels, geeking out about nerdy things, STEM in general, creative writing, drawing, and, of course, robotics. I’m especially obsessed with Keeper of the Lost Cities, everything Rick Riordan, and Harry Potter. I also enjoy coming up with crazy ideas on both the programming and the mechanical side of robotics, and the thing I love about robotics is how much room there is to be creative. I’m not sure what I want to do as an adult, but I know that I want to make a positive impact on the world using STEM.
Thoren Honcik
9th Grade
My name is Thoren, and I mainly work as a programmer for the Bananas FTC team, but I can also work on the electrical and mechanical aspects of robotics. Most of my programming experience comes from FTC, and I’ve learned a lot about Java programming. I am 14 and attending North Junior High, and I hope to be a programmer or an engineer at Micron for my career.
Chinmay Tiwari
9th Grade
I’m Chinmay Tiwari, age 14, and I go to Les Bois Junior High and TVMSC. I like to do programming. I have been so far mainly been doing programming on the team. I like robotics because it combines building things and programming. When I grow up, I want to be a programmer. A fun fact is that I have been able to get ASM and C code to run on real hardware without a host OS.
Coach Sam Baird
Programming
I built my first program in middle school, making a Zork-like choose your own adventure text-based game in Microsoft Basic. I received a Bachelors and Masters in Computer Science from BYU and University of Utah. I have worked as a Software Developer for the last 14 years, spending my time in Java-land. In my free time, I’ve built my own android apps (check it out!) and love tinkering with Arduinos, Raspberry Pis, and Lego NXT. Coolest creation: full size arcade that runs off a raspberry pi and plays old-school video games.
Coach Chandra Tiwari
Mechanical
My name is Chandra Tiwari. I have been working in the semiconductor industry for the last 20 years. I am a coach on the FTC team. I enjoy learning and tinkering in my garage with two young assistants. Fun fact – I grew up in a farming environment and wish to become a farmer one day.