Celebrating the 2025 FIRST Volunteer of the Year Award Recipients

Each year, volunteers around the globe go above and beyond to positively impact our FIRST^® students and the FIRST community. The FIRST Volunteer of the Year award is a way for us to recognize volunteers around the world who give extraordinary contributions of time and skills to the FIRST community. Recipients of the FIRST Volunteer of the Year award are role models to the community, demonstrating the Core Values of FIRST and exemplifying Gracious Professionalism^®.   

FIRST program staff and Program Delivery Partners nominate and select recipients for the FIRST Volunteer of the Year award to be presented annually at the FIRST Championship. These nominations come from partners around the world and are selected based on the impact of their contribution to a FIRST program, their time or effort given, and their exemplification of the FIRST Core Values. We are grateful for and congratulate each recipient for their contributions.  

We are proud to announce the 2024 – 2025 FIRST Volunteer of the Year award recipients:  

Cameron Schriner - FIRST^® LEGO^® League 

Cameron Schriner has made an extraordinary impact on FIRST LEGO League during the 2024 – 2025 season through his leadership role with FIRST^® LEGO^® League Challenge. He helps to develop and maintain essential tools alongside his fellow volunteers, helping teams worldwide participate more effectively. Locally, he trains and supports volunteers and teams while also serving as his region's Head Referee.  

A committed volunteer since 2017, Cameron embodies Gracious Professionalism through his dedication, positivity, and willingness to go above and beyond to ensure every participant has a meaningful and fun experience — drawing inspiration from a formative encounter with Dr. Woodie Flowers that shaped his ongoing mission to support others in the spirit of FIRST.  

Please congratulate FIRST LEGO League Volunteer of the Year and the Global Assistant Head Referee, Cameron Schriner! 

Chris Silvano - FIRST^® Tech Challenge 

Chris Silvano’s dedication and contributions have left a lasting impact on the FIRST community and truly embodies the spirit of volunteerism. 

Chris’ journey began as a student on a FIRST team, but his commitment didn’t stop there. He has continued to give back in countless ways, dedicating his time to volunteering at FIRST events across all programs, multiple regions, and serving in nearly every role imaginable including Head Referee, Judge Advisor, Volunteer Coordinator, and Scorekeeper. 

In his spare time, Chris has created valuable content for FIRST Tech Challenge and served as a Global Key Volunteer, expanding opportunities and resources for students worldwide. His enthusiasm, dedication, and multi-faceted contributions have helped shape the experiences of countless students. Through his creativity and commitment, Chris has not only elevated the student experience but has also inspired others to follow in his footsteps. 

FIRST Tech Challenge is proud to recognize their 2024 - 2025 Volunteer of the Year Awardee, Chris Silvano! 

Thad House - FIRST^® Robotics Competition 

Thad House began volunteering at events in 2013 as a Safety Manager before moving into roles such as Robot Inspector, FIRST Technical Advisor Assistant, and Control Systems Advisor. While they have continued to volunteer at a few events each season, their primary contributions to the program come behind the scenes. Thad is a primary contributor to WPILib, primarily working on the build system infrastructure and low-level code shared between all programming languages. They are the #2 contributor to WPILib projects in both number of commits and lines of code. Their contributions have made the team experience simpler and more consistent. Much of the current progress teams are making on pushing the boundaries of software in FIRST Robotics Competition is in part due to a foundation that "just works" due to Thad’s numerous efforts. They are now a key contributor to both FIRST Robotics Competition and FIRST Tech Challenge as part of the software team for the new robot controller.  

Congratulations to the 2025 FIRST Robotics Competition Volunteer of the Year, Thad House! 

If you would like to learn more about becoming a FIRST volunteer for the 2025-2026 season, click here.