GEARED UP Mentor Conference: Full Schedule

Welcome to GEARED UP 2026: Mentor Conference! Join us at James Madison University’s Festival Conference & Student Center in Harrisonburg, VA, for two days of learning, connection, and community.

You power 10,000+ students across DC, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. This day is built for YOU. Whether you’re a rookie coach launching your first team or a 20-year veteran looking for fresh ideas, you’ll find sessions, workshops, and conversations designed to sharpen your skills and recharge your passion.

Proudly presented by Aramco Americas. See you in Harrisonburg.

10:15am EDT

You Can't Always Win. You Can Always Build Culture. - Concrete moves to build a welcoming, sustainable team, and why they win banners.

Saturday August 8, 2026 10:15am - 11:00am EDT

Board Dining (40) Team Management @ 1301 Carrier Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22807

DCI Robotics' team mission is to foster a diverse community of excellence in STEM. While on-field excellence is hard to always achieve, positive team culture is largely within the control of mentors. Learn how to take specific, concrete actions to build a sustainable, positive culture that is welcoming to all students. This will directly contribute to on-field success and ties directly into awards. Led by Shane Donavan of DC International School and coach for FRC 4821 and FTC 14315 and 18264, whose teams have won the FRC DCMP Team Spirit Award, FRC Sustainability Award, FRC Gracious Professionalism Award, FRC Engineering Inspiration Award, and the FTC Sustainability Award in the last two years.

Speakers

Shane Donovan

Director of Career and Technical Education, DC International School

Shane Donovan is the Director of Career and Technical Education at DC International School, a public charter school in DC. He is the lead mentor for the school's robotics program which includes a summer camp, an "Academy" program for new 6th graders, 2 or 3 FTC teams, and FRC team... Read More →

Saturday August 8, 2026 10:15am - 11:00am EDT
Board Dining (40) Team Management 1301 Carrier Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22807

Team Management, Presentation

11:30am EDT

Your Brand Could Be Better: Storytelling, Identity & Community Perception

Saturday August 8, 2026 11:30am - 12:15pm EDT

Board Dining (40) Team Management @ 1301 Carrier Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22807

Your team already has a brand—whether you've worked on it or not. In this honest and energizing session, Jen Kerns explores how mentors can help students define, refine, and elevate how their team is seen by schools, sponsors, and the broader community. Learn how to connect visual identity, mission, and messaging into something authentic and memorable. Whether you're a rookie or a regional powerhouse, your brand deserves more than clipart and a catchy pun.

Speakers

Jen Kerns

Founder | Coach, Kerning & Contrast LLC | FRC 614

Saturday August 8, 2026 11:30am - 12:15pm EDT
Board Dining (40) Team Management 1301 Carrier Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22807

Team Management, Presentation

1:30pm EDT

Rural Teams, Shared Solutions - Vector Space shares hard data on rural recruitment and practice-field access, then we open the floor to swap strategies and pool resources. Bring your challenges.

Saturday August 8, 2026 1:30pm - 2:15pm EDT

Board Dining (40) Team Management @ 1301 Carrier Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22807

Vector Space will share the results of our FRC team data collection as it pertains to recruitment and practice field assets. Following the presentation we would like to have a discussion with rural teams. The goal of the meetup is to identify solutions, streamline strategies, and consolidate resources to help strengthen teams that share some of the same struggles.

Speakers

Adam Spontarelli

Facilities Manager & Director of Education, Vector Space

Adam began his career as a Mechanical Engineer in the Nuclear Industry, modeling the flow of fluid and heat through pipes and debris, around baffles and impellers, across differing liquids, gasses, and solids. If the laws of Thermodynamics seemed to misbehave and joules of energy... Read More →

Elise Spontarelli

Executive Director, Vector Space

Elise Spontarelli is co-founder and Executive Director at Vector Space, a community makerspace in Central Virginia. She's made an entrepreneurial career rendering lines, arcs, and polygons. You'll often find Elise giving her designs life by plasma cutting, laser engraving, and screen... Read More →

Saturday August 8, 2026 1:30pm - 2:15pm EDT
Board Dining (40) Team Management 1301 Carrier Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22807

Team Management, Panel

2:45pm EDT

The Art of Effective Teamwork Challenges

Saturday August 8, 2026 2:45pm - 3:30pm EDT

Board Dining (40) Team Management @ 1301 Carrier Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22807

We've all built the marshmallow spaghetti tower, but how do we go beyond that? What are the big lessons we can learn from little challenges? This session focuses on designing and showcasing teamwork challenges that encourage: creative thinking, teamwork, effective communication skills, using technology, and self reflection

Speakers

Ethan Bass

CAD, Drafting, and Engineering Teacher, Montgomery County (VA) Public Schools

An FLL student turned FTC turned FRC turned Mentor turned Coach turned Mechanical Engineer turned Teacher all before 30!
Head Coach of the FTC team 4924, the Red Beard Pandas and a major fan of teamwork and Gracious Professionalism.
FIRST works best when we all work together... Read More →

Saturday August 8, 2026 2:45pm - 3:30pm EDT
Board Dining (40) Team Management 1301 Carrier Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22807

Team Management, Presentation

2:45pm EDT

This is Not a Strategy Presentation: Building Student Careers in Data Science

Saturday August 8, 2026 2:45pm - 3:30pm EDT

Conf Room 2 (35) Curriculum @ 1301 Carrier Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22807

As FIRST mentors, we strive to build students who are excellent outside of it, especially as STEM-literate professionals. When it comes to designing, building, and programming a robot, we tend to strongly link what students do to potential future careers. We're less successful at that when it comes to data collection, pipelines, and analysis. Adding that dimension to your program can help more students find a home at robotics.
I've approached that challenge across very different programs: an all-boys Catholic school in Dallas, an all-girls community team in Pittsburgh, the largest public school in Maryland, and a DC public charter school. Here's what I've learned about handling FRC data to serve your students off the field, as well as on it.

Speakers

Gabriel Krotkov

Statistician, FDA

Statistician & Machine Learning developer, working for the Food and Drug Administration. FRC student since 2014, event volunteer since 2022, and mentor since 2023. Current mentor for FRC 449 and 4821.

Saturday August 8, 2026 2:45pm - 3:30pm EDT
Conf Room 2 (35) Curriculum 1301 Carrier Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22807

Team Management, Panel

4:00pm EDT

Embracing the Kaizen - How Continuous Improvement Can Turn a Small Dog Into a Much Larger One

Saturday August 8, 2026 4:00pm - 4:45pm EDT

Board Dining (40) Team Management @ 1301 Carrier Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22807

“Embracing the Kaizen” shows how small, daily improvements can transform a FIRST team. Kaizen means continuous, incremental growth—focusing on getting a little better every day. Leon Pryor has used this approach to build strong teams from minimal resources, turning consistent small wins in design, culture, and process into major long-term success.

Speakers

Leon Pryor

Leon Pryor is the co-founder and President of the Motor City Alliance and Lead Coach of FRC Team 8280 (K9.0 Robotics), based at The School at Marygrove in Detroit. In just four years, he built K9.0 into a Michigan State Championship Division winner and guided the team to the FIRST Champion... Read More →

Saturday August 8, 2026 4:00pm - 4:45pm EDT
Board Dining (40) Team Management 1301 Carrier Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22807

Team Management, Presentation

9:00am EDT

DEEP DIVE: First-Year Mentor Bootcamp - Experiences from the Pit to make it to Second-Year Mentor

Sunday August 9, 2026 9:00am - 10:30am EDT

Conf Room 7 (165) Fundraising & Planning @ 1301 Carrier Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22807

A first-year mentor bootcamp covering the unwritten rules, the seasonal rhythm, and the places to find help that formal training does not always cover. Equally important, it gives new mentors a peer cohort and a way to stay connected after the conference ends.

Speakers

Shane Donovan

Director of Career and Technical Education, DC International School

Conaway Haskins

Mentor | VP, Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, FRC 9709 | VIPC

Sunday August 9, 2026 9:00am - 10:30am EDT
Conf Room 7 (165) Fundraising & Planning 1301 Carrier Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22807

Team Management, Panel

11:00am EDT

Getting Back Up: The Use of Failure in the Process

Sunday August 9, 2026 11:00am - 12:30pm EDT

Allegheny Room (80) Technical @ 1301 Carrier Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22807

Every team wants to win, but even the most competitive have plenty of failures along the way. Join mentors to discuss how to foster a team culture that embraces and learns from failure as much as success.

Moderators

Shelly Stoddard

Vice President, FIRST Chesapeake

Sunday August 9, 2026 11:00am - 12:30pm EDT
Allegheny Room (80) Technical 1301 Carrier Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22807

Team Management, Panel

11:00am EDT

Life of a Large Team - Managing Team Growth - Make a space for every student without diluting the experience

Sunday August 9, 2026 11:00am - 12:30pm EDT

Board Dining (40) Team Management @ 1301 Carrier Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22807

A presentation on running mega-sized teams of 100+ students — subteam management, leadership layers, facility logistics, budget at scale, and engagement strategies that keep students from falling through the cracks. A case study from a program that has scaled successfully, and multiple strategies to consider.

Speakers

Isriah Keila

Coach | Business Development Manager, FRC 321 RoboLancers | FIRST Inspires

Isriah Keila is a Business Development Manager at FIRST, supporting the growth of FTC and FRC programs across Western PA, FIRST Mid-Atlantic, and FIRST Chesapeake. A proud alum of FLL Jr., FLL Challenge, FTC, and FRC, he has spent the past five years coaching FRC Team 321, the RoboLancers... Read More →