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DOWAGIAC — A local organization is doing its part to help a middle school robotics team compete against the world’s best.

Representatives from the Dowagiac Eagles Ladies Auxiliary were on hand Wednesday to present a check for $200 to Robo Tech Zone’s Ting Tang Walla Walla Bing Bang robotics team at the Eagles, 101 E Railroad St, Dowagiac. The funds will be used to help pay for the team’s trip to compete in the VEX Robotics World Championship, which will take place May 6 through 14  in Dallas, Texas. The Robotics Education and Competition Foundation manages the VEX Robotics Competition, which thousands of schools participate in around the world each year.

“We think it’s awesome,” said Ladies Auxiliary Secretary Dana Walker. “The reason we did this is because we want people to be aware of what these kids are doing because they don’t get the support they deserve. They’re competing at worlds and we want to help them get there.”

Ting Tang Walla Walla Bing Bang members include Lukas Taggart, Dowagiac Middle School; Bennett Goebel, Berrien Springs Partnership Program; David Gearhart, Berrien Springs Virtual Academy; Tallula Kimmey, Berrien Springs Partnership Program; and Cashton Kimmey, Berrien Springs Partnership Program.

The team is excited to be able to compete on the world stage.

“It’s definitely very exciting, especially when you see all the other teams that didn’t qualify, or almost qualified,” Tallula said.

“I’m very gracious,” Cashton said. “I’m very proud of us this year. I feel like we’re doing very well. I’m very proud of our team. I think it’s very amazing.”

The team, decked out in top hats and tuxedo T-shirts – an homage inspired by Witch Doctor on Discovery Channel’s BattleBots – gave a presentation to Ladies Auxiliary members that included a demonstration of their robot in action. VEX competitions for middle school through college bring STEM skills to life by tasking teams of students with designing and building a robot to play against other teams in a strategic, game-based engineering challenge.

“I’ve always liked robotics, so I just like the robot part and I’m really competitive so I like competing too,” Goebel said. “I like building robots and I did a lot of coding too.”

“I like how it’s organized because it’s always random,” Taggart said.

This season’s challenge is “High Stakes,” which pits red and blue alliances trying to stack 48 seven-inch donut-like rings — 24 of each color — on 10 stakes. With five mobile stakes, considerable strategy is involved in their placement, as well as coding it to climb a monkey-bars-like structure.

“I like the strategy that’s involved,” Gearhart added. “Strategizing with your teammates. You never know what robot they’ll have or what they can do so that’s pretty cool. I like building robots, too.”

Robo Tech Zone is a community based nonprofit organization that facilitates competitive robotics teams. The program partners with local public, private, partnership programs and homeschools to offer Michiana students educational opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Students apply innovative STEM concepts to design, build, and code competitive robots. The team of RoboTZ coaches/mentors guide students through concepts of construction, coding, and the engineering process.

RoboTZ is subdivided into two middle school teams, Ting Tang Walla Walla Bing Bang and the Purple People Eaters; and two high school teams, Say Hello to My Little Friend and Neon Picklz. In addition to learning valuable design, construction, coding, and engineering skills, students will gain life skills such as teamwork, perseverance, self-confidence, respect, professionalism, leadership, communication, collaboration, strategic planning, project management, community outreach and critical thinking.

“These kids are here to do it,” said Jojo Kimmey, who coaches the RoboTZ teams along with husband Chris Kimmey. “They don’t come from privilege. It comes from passion and perseverance. We run into, like these teams across the state with big budgets and big schools that back them, and we’re a non-profit. Everything’s run by volunteers, donations, sponsors and community involvement. We roll into competitions and I tell them ‘You can compete with the best. You’ve got the skill and the will, so they’re taking it. I’m really proud of them.”

Before the World Championships, the team will compete in the CREATE U.S. Open Championship robotics tournament this month. Readers interested in donating to RoboTZ can do so here. Readers interested in volunteering with RoboTZ can contact the Kimmeys at GoTeamRoboTZ@gmail.com.