Meet The Founders
Coach Jason began coaching the VEX Robotics teams at Springer Middle School in 2017. In his 3 years at Springer, his teams won the DelMarVa Regional Championship twice, and three teams qualify for the VEX World Championships. He is very proud to have been named the VEX Robotics Mentor of the Year for the DelMarVa Region in 2019.
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Jason is a regional director of growth for the International Workplace Group as his "real job", but his passion is giving back to the community in any way possible. Together with his wife, Kathy, they founded the nonprofit DejaVu Safety Solutions dedicated to training community members to be prepared to respond to common life-threatening emergencies. He also serves on the Brandywine School District Board of Education, and several other nonprofit boards.
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Jason founded the BrandywineBOTS in 2020 as a way to offer quality robotics programs to all interested families, with a focus on impacting students who traditionally don't have access to STEM related activities!
J. Heather Handler, Ed.D
Heather started coaching VEX robotics at Talley Middle School in 2014. Since then she has mentored many winning teams. She later was the coach at Mount Pleasant High School for 2 years. Heather has been involved in many local and regional VEX tournaments as an event partner and Tournament Manager operator.
Heather is current the Program Coordinator for CTE/STEM/AMP for Cecil County School District in Maryland. She was previously an engineering teacher, the mentor for her school's Technology Student Association and helped to start Girls Who Code at Mount Pleasant High School in Wilmington, DE. Heather is a board member of the Sun Rae Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to helping to support pediatrics patients during extended admissions. The Sun Rae Foundation is dedicated to The Handler's late daughter, Olivia Rae Handler.
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Heather proudly co-founded BrandywineBOTS with Coach Jason in 2020. Although she has moved from the area and is no longer involved in the program - it will always be very close to her heart!
The Founding Board of Directors
Jason Heller, President
Heather Handler, Vice President
Chris Lake, Treasurer
Joan Bartelt, Secretary
Dr. Michelle Kutch, Board Member