Art Waldenville - Head Coach

2007 Woody Flowers Award Submission - Submitted By Kylie Brown

There are two types of people in this world, those who lead and those who follow. Mr. Waldenville is a natural born leader. Whether he is teaching us how to wire a digital circuit or guiding us on building our robot, we can always turn to him for answers. He is a great mentor and teacher to all of his students. He takes the time to make sure that we understand what he is teaching before he moves on to something else. He has been more than a teacher to all of us; he has also been a friend. He notices when we are having a bad day and he sets aside the time to talk to us and see what is wrong. He has done so many things for each member of the team.

Mr. Waldenville is an amazing teacher, person, and friend. He understands us and that we all are individuals, not just students. He has taught us many different things over the past two years. Mr. Waldenville exemplifies gracious professionalism, by mentoring and helping other teams no matter what. Mr. Waldenville, or Waldy as nearly all of us call him, is simply amazing. He takes time to individually help all of us, FIRST isn't a competition to him its part of an amazing experience.

Mr. Waldenville is very dedicated to teaching. Earlier in his life he was a well paid geologist and he decided that he was tired of "turning over the same rock," so went back to school for a teaching degree. He is now certified to teach every science at the high school level. Not only is he a great teacher, but he knows how to connect with his students individually.

During this build season Mr. Waldenville has taught us to work as a group. He has shown us many different ways to communicate with one another. He has taught us to accept everyone's ideas and discuss it as a group. Having a mechanical background, he has educated us on paying attention to every little detail, because if one little thing goes wrong it could lead to everything going wrong. Mr. Waldenville, over the past two years, has laid a foundation for us to keep on task, and with this we all have developed time management skills. He has told us on many occasions that, "Hard work now will always pay off in the long run," and it always does. Mr. Waldenville is always prepared for a challenge; he spends countless hours researching new ways to improve our robot every year, even before or after build season. Our lab, where we build the robot is his home away from home. This is why he is the best mentor for FIRST Robotics that we could ever ask for.

Jason Rausch

Mr. Rausch is a pre-engineering instructor at Moore Norman Technology Center. He is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and has been an AP Physics / Chemistry teacher for 10 years. In 2004, he left Yukon High school to help launch the Pre-Engineering Program at Moore Norman Technology Center.

Art Waldenville
Pre-Engineering Instructor

Moore Norman Technology Center
4701 12th Avenue NW
Norman, OK 73069
(405) 364-5763 ext. 6232
(405) 364-1739 fax
awaldenville@mntechnology.com

Jason Rausch
Pre-Engineering Instructor

Moore Norman Technology Center
4701 12th Avenue NW
Norman, OK 73069
(405) 364-5763 ext. 6230
(405) 364-1739 fax
jrausch@mntechnology.com