TorBots

Congratulations to our mentor, Mr. Ioki, for winning the 2009 Los Angeles Regional Woodie Flowers Award. This was our essay for the award as it was submitted.

    Under the guidance of Mr. Bruce Ioki, a senior engineering fellow with Raytheon, Team 1197 has evolved from a disorganized group of fewer than ten students from South Torrance High School to a well-organized team encompassing over 40 students from all four Torrance high schools. He has brought the club funding and, more importantly, mentors from the aerospace industry. He has helped transfer many responsibilities from mentors to students during his 6 years with the club. Mr. Ioki gives countless hours to TorBots, yet it is the quality of this time that reflects his true devotion. He is deeply committed to the students and earns their respect through effective communication, a willingness to teach problem-solving skills, and an earnest concern for each member’s goals. Without Mr. Ioki, the team would be a mere shadow of its current self.
    When Torbots began, adults were extremely involved in both administration and building. However, Mr. Ioki has transformed the club into a team that embodies the FIRST ideal of students achieving excellence for themselves. He introduces structure in the form of deadlines and schedules and teaches that careful planning in lieu of hasty decision-making leads to efficient robot construction. When the team has meetings, Mr. Ioki does not allow students to listen passively in the corner of the room: he will call on anyone who he feels has not said enough and make them share their ideas with the group. Instead of relying on mentors to teach new members basic skills, he places training responsibilities on the senior members of the club. Whether building a forklift or assembling a transmission, students are in charge of the construction process and coordinate with each other. Students also manage nearly all club communications, sending information to and talking with members, parents, mentors, and sponsors. By dividing up tasks and making sure everyone clearly understands what is expected of them, Mr. Ioki has maximized student participation in every aspect of the club.
    Mr. Ioki teaches the team to think creatively using a variety of methods, including mock FIRST games. Whether in an auto shop, classroom, or corporate sponsor’s conference room, Mr. Ioki’s exercises innovatively demonstrate the importance of strategy and planning in engineering endeavors. Most importantly, these training exercises create a friendly environment that emphasizes the idea that learning is more important than winning.
Mr. Ioki supports and inspires students in whatever their goals may be and never hesitates to write a deserving student a letter of recommendation. As a freshman, one particular student doubted his ability to become an engineer until Mr. Ioki encouraged and inspired him to persevere. Currently, the student is a co-President of TorBots and is applying to college to study engineering. Receiving a vote of confidence from a professional engineer with such an important position within Raytheon helped him follow his dreams. Although a proponent of science and engineering, Mr. Ioki also supports students whose goals do not lead them to become engineers; a former club president is currently majoring in history to become a high school teacher. Following Mr. Ioki’s example, this student and other alumni have returned to the club to educate, collaborate with, and mentor future generations.
    The amount we owe Mr. Ioki cannot be overstated. He brings his skills and values to the team and helps us better ourselves as both engineers and people. We believe he deserves to win the Woody Flowers Award because his mentorship embodies the FIRST ideals of gracious professionalism, math, science, and engineering education, and teaching students how to be leaders and decision-makers.