Meet The Mentors

Kiley Plooster

She currently works for VRC Metal Systems as an Engineering Program Manager. She is the co-lead mentor for Rapid Acceleration and has been involved with the program since 2015. Kiley also won the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award in 2021.

Matthew Bunge

Matt currently works for Caterpillar as an Engineering Project Manager. He is the co-lead mentor for Rapid Acceleration and has been involved with the program since 2015.

Tony Fischer

Tony currently works for VRC Metal Systems as an Engineering Project Manager. He is the longest standing mentor for the team and is a master of all trades.

Dean Walters

Dean currently works for Caterpillar as a Design Tech. He has been a coach for the FIRST Lego League team since 2016. He joined the FRC team in 2018. If you ever need something to do, go find Dean. 

Grace Wilson

Grace currently works at Black Hills Energy as an Electric Distribution Planning Engineer. She has been the Electrical Mentor for the team since 2016. She is also an alumni from the FRC Team 2996. 

Gavin Merkle

Gavin is a crew chief with US Air Force. Originally from the St. Louis, MO area, he has been involved with FIRST for the past 6 years. He is alumni from team 1706, the Ratchet Rockers and joined Rapid Acceleration in 2017.

Mathew Clutter

Mat is a computer science major at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. He was in FLL and alumni of Rapid Acceleration. 

Levi Kent

Levi is a Design Engineer at VRC Metal Systems. He is our Mechanical and Design Mentor. Levi joined the team in 2021.

Carl Hansen

Carl is a retired systems engineer who has been involved with FIRST since the early 2000’s. He joined the team in 2016 and has been advising on systems and sensors.