In Loving Memory of Mr. Anderson

1961 – 2022

We are deeply saddened to announce the death of  Mr. Roy Anderson, he passed away July 4, 2022. Mr. Anderson was an instrumental part of creating Chips and giving our team its personality, his involvement will have a lasting impact on the team and everyone that had the honor of knowing him. Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers. 
 
We are going to honor Mr. Anderson by continuing to follow one of his greatest passions: helping students stay involved in robotics and engineering activities. To do this we are going to establish The Roy Anderson Memorial Scholarship Fund. For many years to come, this fund will provide at least one graduating robotics student that is planning to continue their education in a STEM-related field with a partial scholarship to the college of their choice. Contributions to this fund can be made through the GoFundMe account below.
 
 
CONTRIBUTE NOW
Mr. Anderson was an aerospace engineer for many years before getting involved with mentoring robotics teams. He began mentoring his oldest son’s FIRST Lego League (FLL) team in 2008. In 2013, he started mentoring FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team 118, The Robonauts. Seeing the opportunity to further share his passion, Mr. Anderson accepted a position teaching robotics and engineering at Clear Brook High School in 2016. In 2019, in preparation for the 2020 season, Mr. Anderson was one of the key mentors in the creation of FRC Team 324, Chips. Since 2013 Mr. Anderson also mentored BEST team Jigsaw, several VEX Robotics Competition teams and a VEX IQ team.
 

Some comments from students that worked with Mr. Anderson:

  • Mr. Anderson provides us with not only the tools to succeed in robotics but also in life.
  • Rather than building anything himself, he actively teaches us, and watches us grow as we complete tasks ourselves.
  • His emphasis on guiding us through manufacturing allows us to gain first-hand experience in creating realistic and practical designs.
  • If you have a stupid idea, he won’t tell you it’s stupid. He’ll let you design it and guide you in the right direction as you do.
  • His guidance helps us hone our designing skills as well as how to adapt and overcome the faults in our ideas as the manufacturing process goes on.
  • Mr. Anderson is extremely student-focused and he always encourages students to make all the decisions for the team.
  • He is always promoting teamwork and communication within the team, facilitating connections between team members and ensuring that our social skills develop along with our technical skills. 
  • All of the Chips students can agree that the atmosphere of the lab feels like “home.”
  • Anytime a student messes up or has done something wrong, you can almost hear Mr. Andersons’ laugh. This laugh is not to tease the student but rather, to reassure them that mistakes are normal and that we can learn from them.
  • Mr. Anderson is a joyful person to be around.
  • He is always making something with a student and as soon as the machine stops and a product comes out, he is always happy and satisfied with it, no matter what the product.
  • When the team receives new tools and packages, it is almost as if a little kid is opening presents on Christmas day as Mr. Anderson and his students gleefully look at their new equipment.
 

Despite a personal battle with cancer during the last few years, Mr. Anderson continued to show up for his students, presenting them with a support system like no other. He continued to make robotics easy for everyone as he taught concepts applicable to robotics competition teams and industry. Mr. Anderson took the time to put concepts into words that beginners could understand and walked students through them once, twice, or however many times it took until the student became confident in their new abilities. 

TWEETS....