During the Western PA First Lego League Robotics Grand Championship held at Sewickley Academy on Dec. 11, 2021, Erin Whitaker, Middle School technology coordinator, was named 2021 Pennsylvania First Lego League Mentor of the Year.
Three years ago, First Lego League began a process with the U.S. Mint to create a commemorative silver dollar specifically honoring teachers and mentors that have a tremendous impact on the world around them. The result was the creation of the Christa McAuliffe commemorative silver dollar, which is presented each year to a team mentor whose leadership and guidance was most clearly evident and exemplified the First core values.
“This team coach has put in countless hours this year helping the First program to be more successful here in Western PA — not only supporting their team’s efforts on this challenge — but also contributing directly to touching the lives of hundreds of additional students as well,” said Gordon Walton, First regional partner. “Working diligently behind the scenes, this dedicated teacher has spent the last several months fearlessly addressing logistic problems and helping to coordinate the setup day for today’s championship event – all while coaching her team and encouraging them to embrace iterative engineering and focus on continuous improvement.”
