What qualities make a great teacher? To some, it’s the way they approach the subject they teach and the knowledge behind it. To others, it’s how they use their personality to influence colleagues. To the students in the classroom, it’s how the teacher can connect with them either on an education level or personal level. To his students, colleagues, and the Hempfield Area community, Mark Sipos was all of these.
In 1992, Tech Ed teacher Mark Sipos was hired to join the Technology Education Department at Hempfield Area High School. Fourteen years later in 2006, a program called Bots IQ came to Hempfield. Mark decided he would be in charge of the program. Kids joined the program to learn how to create a bot. The first ever bot made here at HAHS was named “The Black Stallion.” For 2 years, Mr. Sipos was head of the Bots IQ program until he fell ill in 2008. Mark Sipos sadly passed away 4 years later in 2012.
In the fall of 2008, Mr. Siniawski was appointed to take over Bots IQ. When Mark Sipos passed, Mr. Siniawski and the kids in the Bots IQ program created a bot in memory of him called “Mark.” Ever since, Mr. Siniawski and his program have been winning awards left and right at both the state level and national levels. HAHS has even brought home the grand champion and top 3 titles. They’ve won best engineering for almost a decade straight and best engineered bot 3x in that time frame as well.
Mr. Siniawski has led the Bot IQ program for 16 years, and he is excited for the upcoming year. This year, they are bringing back Mr. Wiggles from last year to work on its weaknesses in hopes of coming in 1st this year. Mr. Siniawski looks forward to continuing the legacy that Mark Sipos started here at HAHS.
Mark Sipos’ unexpected passing rocked the Hempfield Area community, but he left a long lasting impression on all of us. Everybody at HAHS, including the Bots IQ program, continues to honor the memory of a man who not only left his “Mark” on a program, but on a school and the people who call it home.
