About the Team

We are the Robozillas from Dodd City High School Mr. Melson began our Robotics Program at Dodd City High School in 2017, and entered the CoCo BEST competition where they competed very well as Rookies. He took teams to CoCo BEST for 2018. 2019, 2020, and 2021. We're a small school with a lot of pride, but because of that and our Title 1 status, we don't have a lot of funds available for a robotics program. So the grants that we have gotten over the years have really helped our sponsor, Mr. Melson, build our program. Our total team stats are currently split at about 60% male and 40% female. We Robozillas are a somewhat experienced all-boys team. So Dodd City High School plans to field 3 VRC teams for the High Stakes Season. The teams are: 93129B, 93129C, & 93129D.

About this Season

In May 2019, Mr. Melson built our own lab-built practice Arena to save money so that we can practice for the Vex Competitions in a real setting. In 2020 we were able to secure a Workforce Grant for an Official VRC arena for Remote Competition, which we used for Remote Skills competitions due to COVID-19. Our DC teams competed quite successfully in "Turning Point" for the 18-19 Season. They won a Judge's Award in both the 18-19 and 19-20 Seasons and were invited to the Texas 1A-2A Vex State Tournament in May 2019 where they placed 3rd. During the 2019-2020 season, we had two teams qualify for the Texas Region 2 Tournament, but during the 20-21 season, our DCHS teams only competed in Remote Skill Tournaments due to COVID-19. We had one team qualify for Region 2 Tournament during the 21-22 and 22-23 Seasons, and we had a winning Alliance at the Texas Region 8 Tournament in Feb. of 2023. During the 23-24 Season we did not Qualify for the Regional Tournament. Most of us on this team are going to be somewhat experienced at VRC construction as we are Juniors in high school. We are ready to be a competitive team for the 24-25 "High Stakest" season.

About Team Sponsor

Mr. Melson is the 1995 Valedictorian graduate of Dodd City High School. He spent about 10 years away from home completing his BS in Animal Science with a minor in Plant and Soil Science and MS in Agricultural Sciences- Emphasis in Grazing Management from Texas A&M University-Commerce. There he also worked as a housing Resident Assistant, Conference Hall Director, and Graduate Research Assistant. He then spent almost three years working as a Graduate Research Assistant in the Forage Research Division at Texas A&M University’s Dept. of Soil Science and Agronomy. In 2005 he returned to Fannin County to start building his livestock farming operation and was self-employed as a direct marketing grass-fed meat producer for 9 years. Mr. Melson's wife, Ellen, started teaching middle school science in 2012 while working on her Alternative Certification. She then moved to high school science by way of Honey Grove, and then Bonham ISD where she taught for 3 years until accepting a position in the Chemistry Dept. at Austin College in Sherman, TX in 2017. She sought a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and began teaching Agricultural Sciences at Grayson College in Denison, TX in January of 2023. In June of 2024 Ellen accepted a position as a Post-Doctoral Small Grains Researcher for Texas A&M AgriLife Research. Mr. Melson taught high school science for 3 years at Bonham ISD while completing his Alternative Teacher Certification through Region 10 ESC in the spring of 2016 before accepting his position at Dodd City ISD in Fall 2017. He was also an assistant robotics coach during the 16-17 school year at Bonham High School. Mr. Melson was able to coach the Hornets through a successful inaugural year of its Robotics Program and during the Texas 1A-2A Vex State Tournament in May 2019 one of his teams placed 3rd. He currently serves not only as a STEAM teacher, but as the Robotics Director/Coach for Dodd City High School. He has held this position since the Fall of 2017. Mr. Melson also continues to farm with heritage livestock breeds with his wife Ellen, daughter Ada, and son Nolan on their family farm near Dodd City, TX.