TA News

On Saturday Nov 2, 2024, 32 robot teams from Vermont and New Hampshire converged on Vaughn Alumni Gymnasium at Thetford Academy for the first annual Haunted Harvest Robotics Tournament. It was the first time TA had hosted a tournament in over ten years, and due to the outstanding planning team led by Catherine Kutter and Karen MacPhee, it went off without a hitch.

After opening remarks by Head of School Carrie Brennan and a performance of the Star Spangled Banner from Ava Hayden ’25, parent and faculty member Casey Huling ’92 took over as emcee.

Throughout the morning and into the afternoon, about fifty two-minute bouts served to seed all 32 teams for the elimination rounds. Yes, robots failed and yes, they were mostly repaired in “the pits” before their next bout.

I should mention that each bout begins with a 15-second autonomous period where the robots run a pre-programmed set of moves – without driver control.  For beginner teams, autonomous programming can be a daunting task. So this 4886 coach was proudest when he witnessed some of his more-senior roboteurs helping other teams with their basic autonomous coding.

At the end of all fifty qualification matches all four of TA’s high-school teams were in the top 5 seeds while our two middle-school teams came in at 10th and 27th.  Meet leaders 4886S String Theory (Duncan and Connor K-W) partnered with brothers Yogurt (Rowan, Aidan, Tristan, and Lucca) for the eliminations while our Wiseguys (Kai Slayton, Jesse Martin, Calvin Hughes and Tanner Hardy) and  X-Factor (Caleb Crossett, Jay Hill, and Brycen Crossett) each partnered with a teams from Manchester NH’s Spark Academy. With so many 4886 brothers in the mix, there was sure to be fratricide – and so it came to pass that the final match contained  three 4886 teams. But in the end, it was String Theory and Yogurt who came away with the champion trophies. 

Frequent readers will recall that in addition to the 2v2 competition, these tournaments also feature a 1vClock robot skills competition. In that event also, String Theory posted the day’s highest score. And then to complete the day, they also earned the coveted Excellence Award from the event judges. To my knowledge, that’s 4886’s first triple crown by one team. It speaks to their hard work and dedication.

In addition to the competition, the event served as a reunion of sorts for team 4886 alumni: Longtime coach Marc Chabot returned to lead the judging team. Founding members Jonathan Leitschuh, Matt Borst, and Evan Koppers also returned to help judging and run the robot skills competition. More-recent alumni Tate Whiteberg, Marshall Melancon, and Isaiah Kol took the weekend off from their colleges to come back and referee.

We must conclude by appreciating our intrepid group of field re-setters from Thetford Elementary School.  Immediately after each of more than sixty matches they jumped onto the field to put all the game pieces back into their starting positions. It was an all-day effort for them – but judging by their eagerness and smiles, team 4886 will be welcoming them to the fold when they arrive at TA over the next few years.

Thanks to TA Robotics Coach Leif LaWhite (P’25, P’22) for this reporting!