Scott Rippetoe wins Woodie Flowers Award

THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- At the Lone Star Regional FIRST Robotics competition held in Houston last week, Scott Rippetoe, mentor of Texas Torque Team #1477 was honored by receiving the Woodie Flowers Award.

Dr. William Murphy founded this prestigious award in 1996 to recognize mentors who lead, inspire and empower, using excellent communication skills. Each year, students may submit an essay nominating one mentor from their team to be considered for this award.

Mr. Rippetoe has been a teacher at The Academy of Science and Technology in The Woodlands for more than 20 years, and robotics, he says, is his passion.

In the essay students wrote for the nomination, they said he has “mentored FIRST Team 1477 for over five years. During that time he has molded the team from a loose, ill-defined organization into the powerhouse of engineering and learning it is today, and he personally impacts every student who crosses his path.”

“Scott is one of the most dedicated and passionate mentors you’ll ever meet," said James Tonthat, a team mentor and former student team member. "The phrase ‘in and out of the classroom’ is unfair to say of him; ‘in and way beyond the classroom is a much better description.”

The students concluded with this: “As a mentor, Rip is an incredible inspiration to all of us. As a friend, he’s a pillar of strength to lean on. As a part of our team, Rip is like the surgical tubing on our 2011 robot’s arm: he stretches and bends himself farther than any human would ever believe possible, and he seems to put in far more than twenty-four hours each day. The life isn’t easy, but like the tubing he’s elastic and he rolls with the punches – and as any physicist would tell you, he does so with incredible efficiency and resilience, and never loses energy as a result of his collisions. He’s our teacher and our mentor, but he’s more than that - he’s our friend, and the most dedicated man we’ve ever met. He’s my hero.”

Texas Torque is headed to St. Louis later this month to compete in the FIRST Robotics World Championships.