2021 Iowa County Arlen Seeman

Iowa County feels that Arlen is one in a million.  He is a tremendous wealth of information for Iowa County 4-H First Lego League teams.  Arlen and his family arrived in Williamsburg August 2014 when he took a job at KINZE Manufacturing.  During this time of transition for his family, Arlen and his wife Terri wanted to get their children involved in the community.  After much persuasion from Terri and Vaughan Stevenson, a fellow KINZE Co-Worker, Arlen agreed to be a team mentor for The Thunder Bots #14902.  The Thunder Bots are sponsored by the Iowa County Extension and is part of the Iowa County STEM 4-H Club.  

The Iowa County Stem 4-H Club is a special interest 4-H Club in Iowa County.  Beginning in 2012 Iowa County 4-H has participated in the First Lego League.  A First Lego League (FLL) team consists of 2 to 10 members between fourth and eighth grade.  Friendly competition is at the heart of Challenge, as teams engage in research, problem-solving, coding and engineering- building and programming a LEGO robot that navigates the missions of a robot game.  As part of the Challenge, teams also participate in a research project to identify and solve a relevant real-world problem.  

Arlen grew up in Nebraska where he was not a 4-H Member.  After graduating from high school Arlen attended the University of Nebraska- Lincoln where he earned a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering. Arlen also holds a MS degree in Aerospace Engineering from University of Minnesota.  Ultimately he landed at KINZE Manufacturing where he pursues his engineering passion. 

While working at KINZE employees are encouraged to be active in the community.  Since Arlen’s children, Analyn and Calvin, had a passion for Legos and programming, a FLL Coach seemed like a perfect fit.  Arlen first started volunteering in 2014 and after 7 years in 2021 he is still volunteering for Iowa County 4-H.  Over the past 7 years, Arlen has coached/mentored 54 youth and has brought 23 new members to Iowa County 4-H.  

Under Arlen’s leadership with Iowa County Stem Club.  The FLL Teams have competed very well in both the regional qualifier’s and State Championships.  Winning special recognition at regional qualifies all seven years and qualifying for State Championships six out of seven years.  Thunder Bots teams have received many awards with Robotic Performance and/or Robot design.  A highlight of Thunder Bots was in 2018 were the team placed 3rd at State Championship and was invited to the Razorback Invitational and even last year the Thunder Bots placed 2nd with Robot Design at State Championships.