Weisel
Works

1. Dry-fit the stack and check motor wire reach before you solder anything.
2. Solder motors to the nearest ESC pads. Shiny joints, not blobs.
3. XT60 pigtail and capacitor onto the ESC power pads.
4. FC-to-ESC harness, then RX and O4 onto spare UARTs. Photograph the wiring before closing it up.
5. Smoke stop on first power. No props.
6. Betaflight: ports, ELRS bind, bidirectional DShot, confirm motor order and direction.
7. Link O4 to the goggles and set channels.
8. Props on last. Hover check in the yard, then tune.

1. Cut and dry-fit the PVC. Drill flood holes so the frame sinks instead of trapping air.
2. Waterproof the motor shafts with marine grease and solder long leads.
3. Mount thrusters: two aft for drive and steering, one center for up/down.
4. Seal the dry tube. Soak it empty, submerged, for 30 minutes. No fog, no drips.
5. Wire the H-bridges and Nano inside, joysticks topside, signal wires down the tether.
6. Bathtub trial: verify thrust directions, then trim ballast until it hovers in place.
7. Pool day. Bring towels and a spare fuse.

1. Bolt on trucks, mount, and motor. Align the pulleys dead straight or the belt walks off.
2. Belt on, tension to roughly 5 MM of give.
3. Wire battery, loop key, VESC, motor. Solder outside the enclosure, then install.
4. VESC Tool: motor detection wizard, conservative current limits, map the remote.
5. Cap speed at 15 MPH for the first month. Seriously.
6. Brake test on grass at walking pace before any real ride.
7. First rides in a flat, empty parking lot with full pads.

1. Print free FT-style plans, tape the tiles, cut the foam.
2. Score, fold, and glue the fuselage. Skewer spar in the wing.
3. Servos in, pushrods to ailerons and elevator. Center everything first.
4. Motor on the firewall, ESC and RX in the bay, range check.
5. Set CG per the plans. Nose-heavy flies bad, tail-heavy flies once.
6. Maiden line-of-sight in a big empty field. Trim it out.
7. Now drop in the O4 and fly it FPV.

1. Build the frame square. Measure both diagonals, they must match.
2. Rods parallel until the gantry slides with one finger.
3. Route belts exactly per Fig 5. The top runs must cross.
4. Flash GRBL (servo fork) to the Uno, wire steppers, set driver current.
5. Calibrate steps/MM with a 100 MM test move and a ruler.
6. Zip-tie a Sharpie in, set pen height, plot a test square and circle.
7. Oval circles: tension the belts. Overshot corners: lower acceleration.

1. Print the EEZYbotARM MK2 set. Free STLs, prints overnight.
2. Center all servos to 90° with a test sketch before any assembly.
3. Assemble base, shoulder, elbow, then the linkages. Don't overtighten pivots.
4. Wire servos to the PCA9685, Nano on I2C, big supply for servo power.
5. Sweep test one joint at a time and set soft angle limits in code.
6. Write record-and-replay: pot inputs in, saved moves out.
7. Then the fun one: inverse kinematics so the gripper moves in straight lines.

1. Walk the plot with your uncle and cousin, measure the real runs, and mark zones with flags. Pencil the numbers onto Fig 7A.
2. Assemble the headworks at the hydrant in Fig 7B order: backflow, filter, regulator. That order is not a suggestion.
3. Build the 3-valve manifold on a board and mount it by the barn.
4. Run the 3/4" mainline to each zone. Pin it or bury it shallow, and put a drain tee at the low point.
5. Lay 1/2" laterals down the rows and loop the trees. Punch and barb emitters at every plant.
6. Flush the whole system with the line ends open, then cap with figure-8s. Grit in the lines now means dead emitters in July.
7. Wire the valves per Fig 7C: one hot per relay, one shared common. Flash the schedule, dawn cycle.
8. Pressure up and walk every zone together looking for geysers and dry spots. Before first frost, open the drains.

1. Set and run assemblies, from the run of show to who’s speaking.
2. Own spirit weeks. Themes, logistics, hype. Loud and organized on purpose.
3. Carry the grade’s priorities to faculty and actually push them through.
4. Keep student government moving between the big moments, not just at them.

1. Monday PM: shake off the weekend, aerobic base.
2. Tuesday and Thursday: doubles. Morning technique and starts, afternoon main set from Coach Mornay.
3. Wednesday PM: middle distance, hold pace.
4. Friday PM: race pace, best effort, then done.
5. Saturday AM: long aerobic, empty the tank.
6. Sunday: off. Sleep, stretch, let the work stick.

1. Read the season’s missions and score the ones worth chasing.
2. Build the robot and the attachments each mission needs.
3. Program the autonomous runs, one mission at a time.
4. Test on the real mat, fix what misses, run it again. This is where the points come from.
5. Compete: judged rounds plus the timed matches on the table.

1. Lay out the frame and dry-fit the stack before any solder touches a pad.
2. Solder the ESC and FC, motor wires shortest neat path, hot iron in and out.
3. Mount the O4 and camera, set the tilt for the speed I want to fly.
4. Bind ExpressLRS to the radio and check link before anything spins.
5. Betaflight: board alignment, motor order and direction with props OFF, then a tune.
6. Props on, maiden, then fly it hard. Break it, learn from it, fix it, repeat.

1. American Red Cross Lifeguarding, the full certification, not a swim badge.
2. It bundles CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer and First Aid.
3. I did it the second I turned 15, the minute I was old enough to sit the course.

I’ve looked up to my cousin my whole life. On the water he set the bar, made it look effortless, and I wanted that more than anything. Every set behind the boat I’m still chasing him, and honestly that’s half the reason I love it. That part has never changed.

Town runs on five core values, and they’re in everything from the classroom to the court.

1. Lower School, K-4: self-contained classrooms with at least two teachers each.
2. Upper School, 5-8: departmentalized classes, electives, and real independence.
3. Engineering Thinking Program: mechanical engineering, coding, and design. This is where a lot of my build habit started.
4. Arts and character development woven through everything, not bolted on.
5. College-prep foundation that sends boys on to schools like Exeter.

None of this happens on my own. A few teachers at Town pushed me, believed me, and got me to where I am, and I owe them for it.

And to Archer and Willy, for all of it. Thank you.

Harkness started at Exeter in 1930 with a gift from Edward Harkness. No lectures, no rows of desks. Twelve students and one teacher work through the material together around an oval table. It is not about being right, it is about thinking out loud, listening, and building on each other. At Exeter it runs in every subject, and it is the whole reason I want to be there.

Exeter’s mission is to unite goodness and knowledge and inspire youth from every quarter to lead purposeful lives. Three mottoes are carved into the seal.

Exeter’s Robotics Club runs several FIRST Tech Challenge teams out of the Design and Innovation Lab. VERTEX is the flagship, and it won the FIRST Tech Challenge New Hampshire Championship and earned a spot at the World Championship in Houston. There’s also MUREX, the underwater ROV team. I’m trying out for both.

Big Red swims in the Roger A. Nekton Championship Pool in Love Gym, one of the best facilities in New England: 8 lanes, 25 yards, full Colorado timing, two diving boards, an anti-wave surge tank, and seating for around 800. The program has been nationally ranked since 1994. New pool, new team, same events.

I’m an 8th grader at Town School in San Francisco, and next year I’m headed to Phillips Exeter Academy for 9th grade. That move is a big one. Town has been my whole world for years, and I’m about to drop into a new place across the country where nobody knows me yet. I’m ready for it.

What I care about most is the work. I like locking in on something hard and grinding until it clicks, whether that’s a swim set I can’t hold pace on, a factoring problem that won’t come out clean, or a quad that won’t arm. None of it works the first time, and that’s the part I like. You figure out the pieces, you try it, it breaks, you fix it, and eventually it flies.

I build the same way I put this set together: figure out the parts, draw it up, then actually make it. Not a mockup, not a maybe, the real thing. And if a line’s wrong, I’d rather redraw it than fake it. That goes for drones, for school, for all of it.