Meet the ViperBots Faculty and Mentors

Mr. Zvada has a B.A. in History from Cal State Channel Islands and a M.Ed in Special Education from Grand Canyon University.  He was an elementary school teacher for 8 years in Las Vegas where he started and coached several VEX IQ teams.  This is his second year at Vandegrift and will continue to be the Faculty Mentor for Venom and Recoil. 

Matthew Bowen is excited to join the VHS ViperBots team this year. Mr. Bowen has been teaching for six years and currently teaches AP Statistics and Algebra II.

Mr. Bowen graduated from Texas A&M University in 2016 with a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Creative Studies. He graduated again from Texas A&M in 2018 with a M.Ed. in Educational Psychology. While he's not teaching, Mr. Bowen loves going to concerts, collecting records, and playing games with his friends. In the summertime, Mr. Bowen assists in running a career-exploration summer camp at Texas A&M University for gifted and talented middle and high school students.

Ms. Stevenson was a foreign exchange student to Argentina her Junior year of high school. She has a BA in English from Hardin Simmons University and a Masters in Spanish from Colorado University at Denver.

Ms. Stevenson loves being a part of ViperBots because she sees students outside of class being themselves. She experiences the creative process and growth with her team and gets to see them handle real world problems, each with unique perspectives.

Jim Kabat is the Faculty Coach for Leviathan. He has been very supportive of several ViperBots teams during their outreach events. Mr. Kabat teaches AP and on-level Physics 1 at Vandegrift High School. He has a background in petroleum engineering with a degree from University of Minnesota Twin Cities. We're so excited to be part of his rookie year in Vandegrift HS Robotics!

     My wife and I are both teachers for LISD. We have two children that attended LISD schools and are currently attending college. I enjoy being outdoors, kayaking, skiing, riding a bicycle, and hiking.

     After high school I had several odd jobs and eventually settled into construction related fields. The construction jobs were too unpredictable, so I decided to go back to school and study electronics. I have worked in the defense industry assembling wiring harnesses for aircraft, and in the semiconductor industry as an electronic technician repairing and maintaining manufacturing equipment. The semiconductor company I worked for moved to China. I took that as a sign to find a new career. I went back to school again, and here I am. Education is a third career for me.

Education

Associates of Applied Science in Electronics, Hallmark Institute of Technology: San Antonio, Tx

Bachelor's of Arts in  Multidisciplinary Studies, Huston-Tillotson University: Austin, TX

Ms. Meyer is a product of LISD, she went to Cedar Park High School and her brother and sister are Viper alumni! Ms. Meyer went to Texas A&M University (WHOOP!) to earn her BA in Interdisciplinary Studies and then returned to Leander ISD to teach at Grandview Hills Elementary for nine years. This is Ms. Meyer's first year at Vandegrift, teaching ICAP. In her spare time Ms. Meyer loves to play video games, read, watch movies, watch football (Go Aggies and Broncos!),  go to music festivals, and even built her own gaming PC that is now collecting dust because she's been so busy with her tutoring business. "I was drawn to robotics coaching because I love to see students turn passion into action!"-Ms.Meyer 

ViperBots is happy to welcome Christa Rhea as the FRC Faculty Assistant Coach and Scouting Mentor. She teaches AP Environmental Science and Environmental Systems. This will be her second year at Vandegrift High School and second year teaching. Ms. Rhea has a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from the University of Texas at Austin, as well as a certificate in Sustainable Resource Management from San Jose State. 

Prior to teaching, Christa worked in Los Angeles as an Environmental Consultant. Her projects involved recycling and waste management, zero waste, community gardening, and food waste reduction. Ms. Rhea has also worked here in Austin as a legal assistant for an environmental law firm on cases regarding water and air quality, landfill permitting, water rights, and more. After seeing the importance of environmental education in the community, Christa Rhea returned to UT Austin to get her teaching certificate through the UTeach Accelerate program.   

Luke DeWitt graduated from Olivet College in 2017 with a Bachelors in Marketing and Business Administration. During his time at the "O", he was President of the Marketing and Advertising club, captain of the men's volleyball team, and was voted "Marketing Student of The Year" by the Business department for his work in developing and presenting a marketing plan for local businesses. After graduation, Luke immediately started coaching volleyball collegiately for 4 years. He now works in Business Development at Veryable which is a Gigafund backed start-up that consults operations for manufacturers. This is his second season mentoring and it's been wonderful mixing his strengths of marketing, leadership, and competition together to help students find and develop their passions. 

Ben Helgeson graduated from UT Austin in 2017 with Bachelor degrees in Physics – Space Sciences and Astronomy.  He is currently an Engineering Scientist at Applied Research Laboratories, responsible for Precision Pointing Determination for a research satellite called ICESat-2.  His job is primarily algorithm development and data analysis. 

Ben has been involved in FIRST one way or another for about 13 years, and also helped Michael start Valor back in 2017.  He mainly does manufacturing and assembly, teaching the students how to safely and effectively use the tools and machinery in the shop.  It’s a very rewarding experience being able to help the students learn and develop new skills that will help them in their future. 

Jan Helgeson is a Solutions Architect at Alchemy Technology Group. He’s focused on building solutions for our customers using Robot Process Automation and managing windows deployments in SCCM.

Jan was on an FRC team from 2007-2011 (the same team as Michael Ray) and joined Valor as a mentor in 2019.  He enjoys mentoring and working with students and helping them solve the unique challenges in FIRST. As a student, FIRST taught Mr. Helgeson many skills that he still uses and were invaluable to getting him to his present role.  On Valor, he manages the Software team, where it is his responsibility to ensure that all of the robot's hardware and electrical systems are effectively controlled.

Nik Olsen is a Sr. Mechanical Engineer at Higher Innovation. He spends his workday developing robot dispensing and precise measuring products. Nik is skilled in most things mechanical whether that be injection molding, 3D printing, CNC fabrication, DFM principles or ground up industrial design work. Nik's vast work experience includes Battlebots toys, RC cars, 3D wire form products, high speed 3d printers and even high volume furniture for quick serve restaurants.

Nik started his FRC Career in 2009 on a rookie team 2826 Wave robotics. As a student he learned software, electrical, CAD/Mechanical Design, and fabrication. Learning from local industry mentors is what made Nik go down the mechanical engineering path. Nik additionally mentored 2826 from 2012-2016 to help grow the program and used it as a launch pad for his career. 2826 made world finals in 2015.

Post college Nik moved to Texas and mentored 148 the Robowranglers from 2017-2021. There he taught Scouting, CAD/Mechanical Design, machine shop, and CNC/CAM programming. Nik won 1 world championship (2018) at his time with 148.

In 2022 Nik joined Valor as a mentor for Design, Mechanical, and Scouting. His role as Lead Robot Design is to ensure that the robot performs at the highest level, stays on schedule, and fabrication standards are met. Nik enjoys teaching the students that every problem has a solution, no matter how hard the question.

Madison Zamora graduated from Brigham Young University in 2017 with a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering. She also completed a year of research and graduate study in Mechanical Engineering and Oceanography at UC San Diego. Madison then joined the education field and taught high school math and science for three years. During this time, she was introduced to the world of FIRST! This will be her second full season with Valor. She loves working with the students and guiding them through the engineering design process. Robotics gives them firsthand experience in each aspect of the process, though she personally loves seeing students think through the failures and set backs and then later celebrate the successes!