Professor Gail Drake of ILITE Robotics wins Woodie Flowers Award!

Professor Gail Drake, coach of ILITE Robotics Team from Battlefield High School, wins the FIRST’s Woodie Flowers Award! ILITE (Inspiring Leaders in Technology and Engineering) is FRC Robotics Team #1885, a team that competes with other robots in an international program called FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), www.firstinspires.org . A Woodie Flowers Award is given to one mentor that celebrates effective communication in the art and science of engineering and design. It honors a mentor who demonstrates the leadership, the ethical behavior and the communication skills exemplified by Woodie Flowers himself. This year over a thousand mentors were nominated by their teams, written by students, and this is what ILITE students have written about their Professor/Coach Drake:

Professor Gail Drake left corporate life to spread enthusiasm for STEM with every student in our team both past and present, inspiring over 1500 students since the program’s inception. She encourages students to become leaders and believe that all students are born with greatness when given the opportunity to shine and by providing the tools for success. As the head coach and one of the founders of this team, she strives to enable the students to be their best, pushes them to limits they didn’t know exist. They talk about robots, outreach, current events, and anything to stimulate their minds. She fosters communication, treats all students as professionals and encourages students to calm down and ask questions when they don’t understand something. Most importantly, each student works to find a niche in their program through a supportable and creative environment. She wears many hats, serves not only as a coach, but also as a teacher, a professor, student and proud parent of this successful program. From advocating for FIRST, writing and implementing course work and focus on sustainability, she has earned many accolades and awards indicative of a genuine commitment towards creating a better future for these lucky students. The proof is in the alumni who now work at such places as Google, Microsoft, FIRST and more. Albert Einstein once said, “It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy and creative expression and knowledge”. Professor Drake is the epitome of this, guiding the students through more than robots with her guiding light.

Established in 2005 with thirty-two students, ILITE FRC Team 1885 is today one of the largest robotics programs in the Mid-Atlantic region. ILITE is based at Battlefield High School in Prince William County, Virginia, an Informational Technology school with an after school robotics team. Since winning Rookie All Star in 2006 at the FIRST® Championship, ILITE has also won other numerous awards including the most prestigious Chairman’s Award. Since it is more than just about robots, Chairman’s Award was won due to the team engaging in extensive outreach to share their love of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by holding STEM summer camps, hosting an annual STEAM Expo, advocating for STEM education with national politicians and supporting robotics education at local elementary schools as well as schools in Haiti, Malaysia, Ethiopia, Bolivia, and Liberia. To learn more about ILITE FRC Team 1885, go to http://www.ilite.us