Eric Stokely
WFA Recipient · 2016
“The goal isn’t to live forever; the goal is to create something that will.” — Chuck Palahniuk
These words opened the nomination essay that led to Eric Stokely (Stokely to his friends) receiving the 2016 Woodie Flowers Award in St. Louis. They also neatly summarize the lasting impact he has made throughout the FIRST® Robotics community.
Stokely began his career as a physicist at a national laboratory. When he was asked to help teach a physics class at a school in San Jose, California, however, his path began to change. He became the founding mentor of FRC Team 258, the Sea Dawgs. After that first season, he was hooked. He came to believe that education, and FIRST, could help address many of the challenges he saw facing STEM.
After moving to Washington State in 2002, Stokely joined FRC Team 360, The Revolution, while teaching at the school that hosted the team. Working alongside several local mentors, he helped build what would eventually become FIRST Washington.
Stokely later became the Affiliate Partner for FIRST Tech Challenge in Washington, a role now associated with FIRST Program Delivery Partners. He frequently used his own vacation time to attend partner conferences and collaborate with FIRST leaders from around the country. As those gatherings expanded to include representatives from every FIRST program and from communities around the world, Stokely continued to participate as a representative of FIRST Washington.
His service has extended far beyond any single role. He has volunteered across FIRST programs throughout Washington and at the FIRST Championship, offering his experience wherever it could make a difference.
That impact also reached across the globe. When a parent with connections to Türkiye wondered whether FRC could take root there, Team 360 sent a delegation of students and mentors to work with a local school. Their collaboration helped establish FRC Team 2905, the first Turkish FRC team.
As interest grew, a Team 360 alumnus living in Türkiye helped lead an effort to create additional teams. Stokely and a group of Team 360 alumni supported that work by helping organize off-season events based on previous FRC games. For two years, these events gave prospective teams an opportunity to experience FIRST Robotics Competition firsthand. Those early efforts helped lay the foundation for a thriving FRC community in Türkiye, with teams now competing at multiple regional events and representing their country at the FIRST Championship.
Stokely’s work in Washington continued to evolve as well. After leaving Bellarmine Preparatory School, the home of Team 360, he taught at the Science and Math Institute and spent a season working with FRC Team 2557, the SOTAbots. He later served as warehouse manager for FIRST Washington while continuing to mentor Team 360.
The call of the classroom eventually brought him to Shelton, where he taught at Oakland Bay Junior High School and Shelton High School. There, he mentored FRC Team 5295, Alternating Current.
Following his retirement from teaching, Stokely continued serving the community as the FIRST Senior Mentor for Washington. Today, he mentors FRC Team 4450, the Olympia Robotics Federation, ORF, and continues to assist teams and events wherever his knowledge and experience are needed.
Across decades of teaching, mentoring, volunteering, and community-building, Stokely has helped create opportunities that will continue long beyond any single season. His legacy lives in the teams he founded, the programs he strengthened, the communities he helped connect, and the students and mentors who now carry that work forward.
Ultimately, Stokely sums up what FIRST means to him with the words of the late Koko Ed:
“Hopes and dreams.”