Scott Meredith Memorial Robotics Scholarship

Hi, my name is Jeff Meredith. My younger brother, Scott Meredith, passed away on May 5, 2024.

While we are shattered as a family, we have decided to start up a memorial scholarship in his memory, so that we can give exceptional robotics students in need a helping hand as they head off to college. It's what Scott would have wanted.

Scott was an incredible FIRST Robotics mentor and supporter of FIRST's mission, which is engaging young people in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to inspire the next generation of innovators and leaders.

Scott first joined Team 2590 (Nemesis) as a mentor in 2009, before founding Team 5895, Peddie Robotics, in 2015. During his 15 years of teaching, he mentored hundreds of students, inspiring them to pursue careers in STEM.

His Robbinsville teams went to FIRST World Championships several times (2012-2015), including being Archimedes Division Winners and Einstein Field Semifinalists in 2014. As a brother, I was so proud to watch this achievement in-person. Team 2590 was ranked 1st in MAR in 2013-2014.

Scott's legacy only grew at Peddie. As a member of the FIRST Mid-Atlantic district, Team 5895 ranked 1st out of 127 teams in 2023 and 94th out of 3294 teams globally. Team 5895 was also a Milstein Division Winner at FIRST World Championships. In 2022, the team ranked 2nd out of 119 teams in the Mid-Atlantic district and 41st out of 3150 teams globally.

The last time I saw Scott was at FIRST Championships in Houston in mid-April 2024. I gave him a big hug as I left for the airport and said, "Thanks for having me, proud of you. Everyone is." It's hard to describe what an incredible brother and son he was.

The words of his students say it all:

"The most influential teacher I ever had"

"Mr. Meredith is responsible for confirming for me that I am an engineer for life"

A fellow mentor notes that, "Scott had zero patience for people who plow forward without thinking but absolutely infinite patience for people who wanted to learn. That often meant that he spent a lot of time and energy with people who were otherwise being ignored."

Another mentor writes, "What made him a great person wasn't the fact that he could build a better team and robot than you, it was that he would do it and then tell you exactly how he did it. He was big on raising the floor of competition and helping teams out. In the past when I was in a pinch and needed parts machined, he helped us out. He could talk to you endlessly about strategies or robot design. I looked forward to events we would be at together."

This scholarship honors Scott's life and will hopefully help launch some amazing young people on their STEM journey. I will personally contribute $5,000 annually and seek a match from my network. Mid-Atlantic robotics students will be eligible for the scholarship awards. FIRST mentors will oversee the application and judging process and my mother, Linda Meredith, will present the scholarship awards. There's no way to replace Scott in our lives but his spirit of generosity and pursuit of excellence can live on through the recipients of this scholarship.

Your contributions will help make this scholarship a reality. Anything you can contribute is appreciated.

If you are a mentor interested in working with us on the application/awards process, we'd welcome that. Please e-mail me. Thanks to the FIRST community for continuing to inspire us as a family, even as we process our biggest loss.