When the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Dallas sent out a "call for help," seeking mentors for the organization's FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team last year, TI engineers Rachel Moore and Jacob Borgeson answered.
"I caught the fever," said Borgeson, who previously worked as TI's liaison with FIRST but jumped at the opportunity for a more "hands on experience" so he could help inspire students to become engineers.
"I want to help them develop an appreciation for the value in an engineering degree," Borgeson said. "Today, it seems so many people are focused on sports heroes or being a famous singer, but nobody is praised for innovation. I want these kids to see the value in building and designing custom solutions that impact society in positive ways."
Moore, who also started volunteering as a team mentor last year, said "this is a tremendously fun way to volunteer my time."
"Sometimes at our jobs, because of the day-to-day work, we can lose our edge or our passion for what it is we are really here to do, make things," she said. "The FRC six-week dash to design-prototype-build-repeat process is very re-invigorating for me as well as an exciting learning experience for the students."
TI has been a FIRST sponsor for four years, and numerous employees have donated their time helping to mentor participants. On average, each FIRST mentor spends 150-200 hours a year volunteering for their team over a four- to five- month period. The company also donates microcontrollers and other devices that come in a robotics kit for their designs.
For more information on their volunteer efforts, visit TI’s Corporate Citizenship page.