Mason Coombs is a name echoed throughout the halls. He is well known for his contribution to the robotics First Tech Challenge. During his senior year alone, he has successfully organized numerous non-profit endeavors and provided the means for people worldwide to compete in the First Tech Challenge.
Beyond Powell High School, he has found success in influencing people for their betterment. Coombs may still be a student, but that hasn’t discouraged him from being an idol. He finds success while simultaneously assisting others in finding it as well.
Coombs also has an extraordinary amount of enthusiasm for extracurricular activities. He elaborated on the idea of being away from sports and how these activities are influencing him.
”[Robotics has] given me a lot of skills and kind of just how to become like a thinker,” Coombs said, “kind of with the engineering mindset.”
Additionally, Coombs makes an effort to inspire and enable the people around him. No matter the situation, he attempts to open doors for those who may not be able to.
“I think that I have had just an impact on, kind of, the students around us,” Coombs said. “I know that I’ve [already inspired] a few people to start their own kind of nonprofits and everything. Especially with the type of grants and 3D printers that we’re giving to people … just like it opens up the gateway. And I feel like I do a lot of that.”
Inside the classroom, Coombs finds himself having fun in everyday high school life. Persevering through the stress of academics is the aspect of social relief Coombs finds in his friends.
“What kind of came as a surprise is how kind of just fun that I have in the normal school day, even just being in class,” Coombs said. “As I’ve kind of grown more to be in Powell High School, I just kind of figured out that just, it’s a lot of fun because you just get to hang out with your buddies for essentially just eight hours every single day.”
It’s not a phase, it’s a lifestyle. Coombs has found a permanent spot for himself in the world of engineering. Out of a love for engineering, he plans to stay loyal to the First Tech Challenge who have given him the resources, both mentally and physically, to get into college and continue his passion.
“I definitely want to kind of do something with FTC robotics, but I’m going to kind of be more of a mentor, and kind of that way, I’m just more focused on growing SSB robotics to higher than it will…”, Coombs said. “I’m going to go to the University of Utah, and if there’s a robotics team there that will take me, I will do it. But mostly, I think, my postgraduate plans are to just keep on growing the nonprofit and just kind of stay involved with all the high school stuff.”
Family can be a big part of who you are. Having his sister, Grace Coombs, by his side, she influenced him to be the best, fearless version of himself. Thanks to her, he was able to find his way through many struggles that could leave many too petrified to persevere.
“I’m gonna have to say that my older sister shaped me a lot from who I am right now,“ Coombs said. “She really just taught me to just, really, just be myself and to kind of, you know, so I just had somebody to look up to and try all the extracurriculars without really being scared…”
It’s not only skills Coombs plans to acquire – it’s an entire mindset. While working on improving himself in his areas of interest, he also made friends involved in the world of engineering.
“I would say the robotics club is a massive one that helped me, push me where I am, not only through the way that you are learning how to kind of be an engineer and really just gaining that mindset and obviously enable to push to kind of just be the best version that you can in that type of sense,“ Coombs said. “But it also brings you towards, kind of just all a big group of friends that you can like, quite honestly, because all the guys are likable in there. And especially last year with the graduated senior class, there was a lot of people who I loved in there.”
