Looking back, Mike Dorsey can only praise the efforts of his students.
The Happy Valley Middle School robotics teams made some noise over the weekend by competing in the JOCO Robos VEX Winter Wonderland state-qualifying competition at Johnson County Middle School on Saturday, Feb. 18, with high marks.
In their inaugural year of competition, HVMS’ two robots — Warwick and Doc — finished third and fourth, respectively, narrowly missing out on qualifying for their state.
“It was a very well-ran competition,” Dorsey, who served as coach for the team, said. “Susan (Quave) did a great job with the event. It was very organized and a great experience for our kids.”
The inaugural HVMS team was comprised of Adam Sheppard, Autumn Lyons, Cameron Buck, Cayden Campbell, Eli Phillips, Hailey Crawford, Kole Havner, Lucas Chausse and Zach Stephens.
“I couldn’t be more pleased of the students,” Dorsey said, praising the efforts of the squad of fixing one of their robots when it was damaged during a match. “This has been all about them. It’s been such a learning experience over the past two weeks and they all came together, worked well with each other and put in the effort to have a successful season.”
HVMS made their way to the elimination tournament after coming away with solid performances in the qualifying rounds, Dorsey said.
“We made our way up Friday to practice,” he added. “We were about to work past some problems and get ready for the event. Our kids were composed and really executed their gameplans. There was a strategy in place and they executed it.”
It genuinely was about the students, Dorsey explained. The coach added one of the interesting moments of the competition is when coaches are asked to leave the field and the students are left to go through problem-solving, driving and other measures needed to perform during the competition.
“It’s like I said before, I couldn’t be more prouder of them,” Dorsey said. “They put their heads together and did very well. I personally didn’t know what to expect, either, with this being my first year and I really enjoyed it.”
Over 15 teams competed throughout the day with Johnson County and Brentwood Academy each punching a ticket to the upcoming state competition.
With the season at a close on top of Warrior Hill, it’s about looking forward according to Dorsey.
“Ideally, I’d like to see us with four teams next year,” he said. “I have four seventh graders returning next year and our eighth graders are going to move on to the high school. There’s an effort at the high school to try to get a team created for them.”
Not only did the band of nine start up something special, but the intrigue has lingered its way throughout the entire school, Dorsey said with a laugh.
“Next year I may need to have applications,” he added. “With four teams, we could have 16 kids participate but I’ve probably had over 30 kids come up to me since they learned about the team who are wanting to join.”
Dorsey added that Old Jonesborough Body Shop of Johnson City has already pledged their support to sponsor the team next season.
“That’s another thing. We want to thank all of our sponsors who gave support this season,” he said. “We couldn’t say enough about them and we appreciate their support.”
The coach also added he’d like to see other county schools possibly look at adding a robotics program to their schools.
“It would be a great thing,” he said. “If that were possible, we could have a small league and even have matches during the week at gyms in the county. I think it would be a great thing.”
Visit sites.google.com/a/hvm.carterk12.net/happy-valley-middle online to view more information on the robotics program and how to get involved. The website also features possible sponsorship opportunities for individuals or businesses that are willing to contribute.