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What is the FIRST Dean’s List Award?
In an effort to recognize the leadership and dedication of FIRST’s most outstanding secondary school students, the Kamen family sponsors awards for selected 10th or 11th grade* students known as the FIRST Robotics Competition® and the FIRST Tech Challenge FIRST Dean’s List Award. Since its introduction in 2010, the FIRST Dean’s List Award has attracted the attention of prestigious colleges and universities who desire to recruit FIRST Dean’s List students.
Similar to the very prestigious National Merit Scholarship Award, there are three (3) levels of FIRST Dean’s List Award students.
- FIRST Dean’s List Semi-finalists – comprised of the two (2) students in their 10th or 11th school year* nominated by each team.
- FIRST Dean’s List Finalists - comprised of the two (2) students selected at each FIRST Robotics Competition Regional or FIRST Robotics Competition District Championship (the Qualifying Events).
- Note: At FIRST Robotics Competition District Championships, more than two (2) students may be selected, depending on the size of the district.
- FIRST Dean’s List Winners - comprised of the ten (10) FIRST Robotics Competition and ten (10) FIRST Tech Challenge students selected from the applicable FIRST Dean’s List Finalists at the FIRST Championship.
Each team is invited to select up to two (2) students who are in the 10th or 11th grade (sophomores or juniors) as FIRST Dean's List Semi-Finalists. The students who earn FIRST Dean’s List Award status as a Semi-Finalists, Finalist or Winner, are great examples of student leaders who have led their Teams and communities to increased awareness for FIRST and its mission. These students have also achieved personal technical expertise and accomplishment. It is the intention of FIRST that these individuals will continue on, post-Award, as great leaders, student alumni, and advocates of FIRST.
Prestigious colleges have expressed great interest in meeting FIRST Dean’s List’s Award winners and FIRST hopes that each Team will take advantage of the opportunity to nominate the most qualified students as FIRST Dean’s List Nominees!
Students are nominated by their team mentors. Celebrate your Team's top 1 or 2 student leaders by nomination them for the FIRST Dean's List Award. Details available on the Awards page. Additional resources can be found here.
2022 Winners
Absent from photo: Ethan Brown and Arvind Seshan
| Team | Name | Location |
| 5338 | Ethan Brown | Leesburg, Virginia, USA |
| 2905 | Nazlı Eren | Istanbul, Turkey |
| 2834 | Thomas Gormley | Bloomfield Township, Michigan, USA |
| 3928 | Leslie Kim | Ames, Iowa, USA |
| 2129 | Nate King | Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA |
| 5188 | Trevor Langley | Terre Haute, Indiana, USA |
| 871 | Christopher Palazzo | West Islip, New York, USA |
| 2383 | Alicia Ramirez | Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA |
| 8027 | Arvind Seshan | Sharon, Pennsylvania, USA |
| 1967 | Joyce Yang | San Jose, California, USA |
2021 Winners
| Team | Name | Location |
| 931 | Obike Anwisye | Saint Louis, Missouri |
| 3932 | Megan Enriquez | Boca Raton, Florida |
| 7717 | Ignacio Fernandez | Santo Domingo, Distrito Nacional, Dominican Republic |
| 503 | Arseniy Ilinich | Novi, Michigan |
| 6035 | Mim Macdonell | Ulladulla, New South Wales, Australia |
| 8603 | Kathleen O'Sullivan | Carmel, New York |
| 3006 | Fikir Teklemedhin | Salt Lake City, Utah |
| 604 | Claudius Tewari | San Jose, California |
| 118 | Tatiana Vassiliev | League City, Texas |
| 7461 | Eric Zhou | Redmond, Washington |
2020 Winners
| Team | Name | Location |
| 7435 | Anastasia Cook | Saint Charles, MO, USA |
| 6821 | Ashley Farrell | San Bernardino, CA, USA |
| 7799 | Tim Gubski | Calgary, AB, Canada |
| 7539 | Shiv Kampani | Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| 624 | Kyna McGill | Katy, TX, USA |
| 1622 | Madalyn Nguyen | Poway, CA, USA |
| 1086 | Jack O'Leary | Glen Allen, VA, USA |
| 2383 | Jose Ramirez | Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA |
| 1540 | Tiffany Toh | Portland, OR, USA |
| 3061 | Jasmine Zhang | Naperville, IL, USA |
2019 Winners
Absent from photo: Jacob Rodriguez
| Team | Name | Location |
| 931 | Chibale Anwisye | Saint Louis, MO, USA |
| 1718 | Paige Drob | Armada, MI, USA |
| 5740 | Thomas Franco | Cranberry Township, PA, USA |
| 1073 | Cameron Hallett | Hollis, NH, USA |
| 5016 | Abigail Holmes | Huntington, NY, USA |
| 6579 | Nicola Pang | Helensburgh, New South Wales, Australia |
| 4322 | Jacob Rodriguez | Orange, CA, USA |
| 115 | Divya Satrawada | Cupertino, CA, USA |
| 4946 | Param Upadhyay | Bolton, Ontario, Canada |
| 3574 | Lauren Vitellaro | Seattle, WA, USA |
2018 Winners
Absent from photo: Grace Lam
| Team | Name | Location |
| 2468 | Joseph Asfouri | Austin, TX, USA |
| 118 | Reed Blanchard | League City, TX, USA |
| 1418 | Erik Boesen | Falls Church, VA, USA |
| 135 | McKenna Hillsdon-Smith | Mishewaka, IN, USA |
| 1868 | Grace Lam | Mountain View, CA, USA |
| 1261 | Natalie Luong | Suwanee, GA, USA |
| 6024 | Aarushi Majumder | Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| 1506 | Gabrielle Malson | Flint, MI, USA |
| 4384 | Sanket Nayak | Troy, MI, USA |
| 1660 | Malachi Patrick | New York, NY, USA |
2017 Winners
| Team | Name | Location |
| 5627 | Xavier Balladarez | San Diego, CA, USA |
| 1325 | Tanreet Dhaliwal | Mississauga, ON, Canada |
| 5811 | Jared Dunn | Dayton, OH, USA |
| 5511 | Sreekar Mantena | Cary, NC, USA |
| 8 | Simran Pujji | Palo Alto, CA, USA |
| 1165 | Zachary Rolfness | Cave Creek, AZ, USA |
| 226 | Dikshant Sharma | Troy, MI, USA |
| 2723 | Maddie Smith | Oklahoma City, OK, USA |
| 5806 | Benjamin Spector | Pelham, NY, USA |
| 4087 | Rebekah Travis | New Orleans, LA, USA |
2016 Winners
| Team | Name | Location |
| 846 | Shikhar Jagadeesh | San Jose, CA |
| 3284 | Brenden Babour | Camdenton, MO |
| 3250 | Autumn Luna | Sacramento, CA |
| 180 | Shantanu Jakhete | Stuart, FL |
| 3061 | Brandon John | Naperville, IL |
| 1241 | Shaqeeb Momen | Mississauga, Ontario, Canada |
| 5830 | Chenelle Foster | Lanham, MD |
| 3494 | Zarya deSouza | Bloomington, IN |
| 503 | Mitchel Huang | Novi, MI |
| 118 | Jessa Westheimer | League City, TX |
See also: Recording of the Dean's List Award Presentation
2015 Winners
| Team | Name | Location |
| 3990 | Emilie Dufour | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| 830 | David Earle | Ann Arbor, MI |
| 4964 | Cynthia Erenas | Los Angeles, CA |
| 1684 | Alyssa Garcia | Lapeer, MI |
| 125 | Camilo Gonzalez | Boston, MA |
| 4118 | Logan Hickox | Gainesville, FL |
| 1629 | Alexandra Miller | McHenry, MD |
| 4013 | Sebastian Orellana | Orlando, FL |
| 1912 | Ben Rowley | Slidell, LA |
| 2980 | Michael Uttmark | Oak Harbor, WA |
2014 Winners
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| FRC Team # | Name | Location | |
| 2486 | Kinney Anderson | Flagstaff, AZ | |
| 1671 | Callie Carbajal | Clovis, CA | |
| 2471 | Bryce Croucher | Camas, WA | |
| 1923 | Michael Foley | Plainsboro, NJ | |
| 1311 | Alec Kumpf | Marietta, GA | |
| 1912 | Alexander Lew | Slidell, LA | |
| 2177 | Madeleine Logeais | Mendota Heights, MN | |
| 3504 | Simran Parwani | Pittsburgh, PA | |
| 27 | Camron Razdar | Clarkston, MI | |
| 4201 | Anthony Stuart | Hawthorne, CA | |
2013 Winners |
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| FRC Team # | Name | Location | |
| 4476 | Kaley Bibic | Kingston, ON, Canada | |
| 1533 | Ephraim Bililign | Greensboro, NC | |
| 359 | William Blaser | Waialua, HI | |
| 3504 | Naoka Gunawardena | Wexford, PA | |
| 4159 | Orfi Harlev | San Francisco, CA | |
| 3547 | Kathryn Hite | Temperance, MI | |
| 2093 | Kristina Landen | Oregon City, OR | |
| 2834 | Kristen Law | West Bloomfield, MI | |
| 589 | Isabel Martos-Repath | La Crescenta, CA | |
| 704 | Joshua Thomas | Grand Prairie, TX | |
2012 Winners |
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| FRC Team # | Name | Location | |
| 3059 | Ikechukwu Chima | Yonkers, NY | |
| 1540 | Marina Dimitrov | Vancouver, WA | |
| 128 | Chase Douglass | Columbus, OH | |
| 1058 | Tristan Evarts | Londonderry, NH | |
| 3138 | Danielle Gehron | Vandalia, OH | |
| 3196 | David Gomez | Cornelius, NC | |
| 1912 | Rachel Holladay | Slidell, LA | |
| 2996 | Jasmine Kemble | Colorado Springs, CO | |
| 842 | John Rangel | Phoenix, AZ | |
| 704 | Matthew Ricks | Grand Prairie, TX | |
2011 Winners |
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| FRC Team # | Name | Location | |
| 1334 | Nicholas Bandiera | Oakville, Ontario, Canada | |
| 1985 | Luther Banner | Florrisant, MO | |
| 228 | Tina Dutra | Meriden, CT | |
| 2543 | Santiago Garza | Chula Vista, CA | |
| 1983 | Lydia Johnston | Seahurst, WA | |
| 2534 | JB Ring | Pikesville, MD | |
| 135 | Michael Schrager | Mishawaka, IN | |
| 78 | Michael Violet | Middletown, RI | |
| 987 | Cody Wall | Las Vegas, NV | |
| 1868 | Christina Wettersten | Palo Alto, CA | |
2010 Winners
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| FRC Team # | Name | Location | |
| 548 | Beth Hadley | Northville, MI | |
| 2437 | Caitlin Mori | Honolulu, HI | |
| 1480 | Carlos Pineda | Pearland, TX | |
| 1712 | Delia Votsch | Armore, PA | |
| 1535 | Ian Graham | Sault Ste. Marie, ON, Canada | |
| 3368 | Ingrid Fiedler | Mostar, Bosnia & Hertzegovina | |
| 1002 | Kyle Fender | Marietta, GA | |
| 2614 | Luke Scime | Morgantown, WV | |
| 3132 | Sarah Heimlich | Sydney, NSW, Australia | |
| 694 | Seth Berg | New York City, NY | |