Menu
Our Team is an amalgamation of students with distinct talents and abilities while being guided by our mentors from diverse fields and expertise, striving to build competitive robots in order to inspire and shape our youth.
Mentors are the cornerstone of the FIRST Robotics Competition and are a huge part of the program’s success. Mentors are adults that help and guide our team and its members. Some mentors are teachers, parents, university students and student alumni of our team. They help and teach us by sharing their knowledge and experience. We owe much of our success to the selfless contributions of these awesome people.
Founding mentor and beloved teacher, Mr. Balech is always working to further develop and evolve the team. His constant encouragement propels students towards success. Mr. balech is what makes our team so much more than just robots.
Former team Co-captain and founding member, AJ now works at Red Hat as a senior software engineer. Andrew is direct, helpful and practical. He helps out with every aspect of our team, with a focus on electrical subsystems and programming.
Alex, a former HT student and founding mentor is always ready to teach students. From precision machining to welding, Alex is a master of all things robot-building and will never take “good enough” for an answer.
Driving in from Hamilton each day we meet, Jordan is committed to teaching, improving and building up the team. Jordan teaches students how to use CAD to the team’s advantage and can spot a blue line from miles away!
A founding mentor and now working at Tesla, Steve is always chiming in over Slack, catching small but critical design flaws throughout the season. Steve is involved in the design, prototyping, research, strategy, build and programming sectors of our team.
A former Holy Trinity student and team member, Lauryn has been a part of Team 3161 for many years. Lauryn is now involved in mentoring our mechanical, awards and business subteams.
A now-retired geologist with a career in the heavy-mining industry, Richard presents a wealth of invaluable knowledge that is beneficial for students, and the team as a whole. Richard is kind and compassionate, and always has a handy trick up his sleeve.
Now studying at Carleton University, Stefen teaches students about prototyping, CAD and emerging manufacturing methods such as 3D printing. In addition, Stefen helps out with team media.
Former team co-captain, Massimo is a strong leader that gets along with everybody on the team. Massimo helps both the software and mechanical subteams fix problems, and encourages students to employ pro-active troubleshooting techniques on and off the playing field.
Adrian supplies a constant stream of positivity and constructive criticism. Adrian is a multi-talented individual who puts the education of others before anything else, and is always bringing new ideas to the table.
Noah is always helping students learn how to use advanced machining equipment while remaining safe in the shop. Now undergoing an apprenticeship to become a certified electrician, Noah is focused on high-quality work, and safety as his top priority.
He started with FIRST on team 1334 in 2009. Paul is a former Holy Trinity student and founding 3161 member. He has acted as electrical team lead, build and design team member, Driver, and Drive Coach. Paul was a recipient of the Dean’s List Finalist Award at the 2011 Waterloo Regional.
A former Holy Trinity student, and and founding 3161 member who was a student member of our team during the 2010 season. Craig was the human player, as well as a member of the build team. His main role on the team was on the electrical and mechanical team.
A former Holy Trinity Student and founding 3161 member. His main roles of the team were manufacturing and design although he was also involved in other areas of the team. He was the manufacturing sub-team captain in 2012 and 2013 and team Co-captain in 2013.
A former Holy Trinity High School student and a founding mentor of team 3161. His work experience includes programming for Mining systems, and mechanical design of Mining systems, Naval systems, and Marine Surveying equipment.
Vince experienced FIRST for the first time at the 2008 FRC Waterloo Regional competition after being invited by Team 1334 to attend and has been a mentor since the 2009 season (Team 1334: 2009, Team 3161: 2010-present). He supported Team 3161 by supervising students involved with the robot manufacture He is knowledgeable in the area of engine lathe and mill operations as well as in the area of pneumatics.
a former Holy Trinity student and founding mentor of team 3161. He started with FRC in 2007 on team 843 which, that year, became the first Canadian team to win the Virginia Regional. In his second year on 843 he, along with Dan Giles, started to contact board members and got the ball rolling in what would later become team 3161. He has studied Mechanical Drafting and Design at Sheridan College. His work experience includes CNC machining, CNC and NC programming, a number of CAD programs and manufacturing fuel injectors for the Candu Reactors.
A Former science teacher at Holy Trinity High School. He obtained an Honours degree in Biological Science with a Minor in Biochemistry from the University of Guelph. Roberto attended the FIRST Championship in 2010 where he caught the “FIRST bug”, and he has been greatly involved with the team since. He assisted the team through organizing and being involved with numerous fundraising events.
A Former English teacher at Holy Trinity High School. She joined team 3161 mid-way through the 2010 build season and has been getting acquainted with the FIRST community. She had traveled with the team to the 2010 FIRST Championships in Atlanta, and has been hooked since. Having a Honours Humanities degree from McMaster University, she played an active role on the fundraising, business and portfolio aspects of the team.
A former Holy Trinity Student and was a 3161 member during the 2011 season. She was a member of the build and manufacturing teams, and acted as safety captain and pit chief at our regional competitions. Melissa studied Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo (2016).
A former Holy Trinity student and founding 3161 member who was a student member of our team during the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Alexander was on our build and design teams and has acted as a human player and drive coach. Alexander studied Electrical Engineering at McMaster University (2015).
Mrs. Montanari had been involved with Team 3161 since 2011 teaching the business section of the interdisciplinary studies course IDC 3OR. She supported/mentored Team 3161 by providing her extensive business expertise in the compilation of the team’s business plan, sponsorship presentations, and maintenance of the team’s financial records.