Rochester man wins IBM’s volunteer excellence award

(ABC 6 News) – A Rochester man is being honored as a winner of IBM’s 2021 Volunteer Excellence award.

Kyle Gilbertson, a software engineer at IBM’s Rochester campus is one of two recipients selected from the United States.

Because of Kyle’s passion for and dedication to volunteering, the not-for-profit of his choice will receive a $10,000 grant from IBM.

This year, Gilbertson is choosing to direct that money towards IBM’s Lego education outreach program which will be coordinated through the Rochester school district.

"I’m hoping as we kind of get back to normal that these programs can start resuming and having this new equipment for the Lego robotics program and help get students excited about it again and back into it and helps us grow the program by having the extra equipment," Gilbertson said.

The Volunteer Excellence Award program annually recognizes individual and team volunteers who best exemplify the IBM values of dedication, innovation and trust in their volunteer work with schools and not-for-profit organizations.

The program is designed to increase interest in engineering among students in grades 4 through 12.

Gilbertson will work with the school district to buy Lego robots for students enrolled in the program.