Strong teamwork propels San Jose High’s robotics program to new heights

San Jose High School is a storied institution, producing a wealth of community leaders and athletic championship teams in its 161-year history. But the school’s latest success might be a surprise to some: The Blazing Bulldogs robotics team were Regional Winners of a 42-team competition held at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds.

For the first time in 17 years, last week’s victory — shared with a team from Davis and another from East Palo Alto — qualifies the team of nearly three dozen San Jose High students for the FIRST Robotics Championships in Houston next month. In 2023, the team ranked 22nd out of 3,294 teams worldwide based on robot performance, and it’s already ranked 10th this year.

But Shelby Anderson, the team’s head coach, said the secret to its success has nothing to do at all with robotics.

“It’s about creating a culture that encourages buy-in from every single member of our team on every single decision,” Anderson said. “We win and lose as a team, and nothing is the success or failure of a single individual. Everyone feels supported in exploring their strengths and weaknesses. It is just all about confidence that the person next to you is going to make the right decision, or is going to communicate that they don’t know what the right decision is.”

The team spent eight weeks building Titan, its 150-pound competition robot used at the regionals — a three-day competition with teams from five states as well as Mexico. And in the end, it was human effort that helped secure the regional win when Titan was damaged during a finals match Sunday and needed a quick repair before a tiebreaking third match that the three-team alliance won.

The team wasn’t the only winner, either, as Anderson received the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award — presented to an outstanding mentor who inspires and empowers their team using excellent communication skills — and will be up for the championship award in Houston.

The Blazing Bulldogs Team 581 will compete next in Fresno on March 22-24 and again in Berkeley on April 5-7, but its biggest challenge may be raising enough money to make the trip to Houston in mid-April. The team — whose sponsors include Synnex Corporation and Google — must still raise a $5,750 entry fee and about $19,000 in travel expenses to get the team and its robot to Texas.

Anderson set up a GoFundMe page for the team’s nonprofit, the San Jose Blazing Bulldogs Robotics Booster Club at gofund.me/2fcad162 and says any companies interested in sponsoring the team can contact her at admin@team581.com.

MULTITUDE OF MAYORS: Five Santa Clara County mayors gathered Thursday morning from the second annual Silicon Valley of Heart’s Delight breakfast in Milpitas and I don’t think anyone on stage said “San Jose” until about two hours into the event. It’s just as well, as the leaders — Mayors Lisa Gillmor of Santa Clara, Larry Klein of Sunnyvale, Sheila Mohan of Cupertino, Carmen Montano of Milpitas and Pat Showalter of Mountain View — had plenty to discuss about their own cities in a panel led by Russell Hancock, CEO of Joint Venture Silicon Valley.

Collectively, they spoke about the need to cooperate to solve some of the regions big problems including housing, economic development and transportation, a point underlined by Harbir Bhatia, CEO of the Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce, which hosted the event at the Embassy Suites on Calaveras Boulevard.

“Business doesn’t stop at the border, shopping doesn’t stop at the border, children’s activities don’t stop at the border,” Bhatia said. “What happens in one city affects the whole region.”

The mayors came loaded with trivia, too: Mayor Mohan of Cupertino proudly pointed out that the first boba shop in the United States was founded in her city. “If you take nothing else away from this morning, remember that,” she joked.

CINEQUEST OPENS BIG: The opening night of Cinequest on Thursday really harkened back to the old days, with a strong crowd at the California Theatre for the opening movie, “The Island Between Tides,” a moody, fantasy/thriller that had a few jump scares (and was based on a story by “Peter Pan” author JM Barrie). The film brought out directors Austin Andrews and Andrew Holmes, as well as stars David Mazouz, Paloma Kwiatkowski and Megan Charpentier, who mingled with festivalgoers at the post-screening party at the Glass House on Santa Clara Street.

The festival runs through March 17, closing with the Maverick Spirit Award presentation to Matthew Modine, along with a screening of his film, “Hard Miles.” Go to www.cinequest.org for more details.

WORLD OF DANCE: On top of being the artistic and executive director of San Jose’s New Ballet, Dalia Rawson is also a member of the American Ballet Theatre Board for Examination, and it was that role that took her to Hong Kong last month to adjudicate dancers at various levels of ABT’s National Training Curriculum.

Since 2014, Rawson has evaluated students from schools around the United States and in Mexico, but this was the first time the job took her to another continent.

“Connecting with ballet teachers and students from around the world is inspiring,” said Rawson, who was evaluating students from Mumbai and Hong Kong on the trip as well as teaching master classes. “I love seeing people in different areas and different circumstances who all believe in the benefits of a classical ballet education and who are doing their best to provide their students with the best possible training.”

SUCCESS STORY: A heartwarming talk by Indian actress Nandita Das was the highlight of Maitri’s annual gala at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Palo Alto last Saturday night, an event that raised more than $600,000 for the nonprofit, which empowers South Asian survivors of domestic violence. The colorful event showcased art, music and dance and included a performance by the Ishami Dance Company.

Maitri President Geetha Krishnamurthy emphasized that education is the key to preventing abuse. “We aim to amplify our outreach and prevention efforts, collaborating with local schools, businesses, and community organizations to raise awareness and foster a culture of empathy,” she said. You can find out more about their efforts at www.maitri.org.