Members of the Robo-Raiders team from Triadelphia Middle School prepare to compete at the Gateway To The West robotics tournament in January at The Highlands Sports Complex. Pictured, from left, are Temperance Emmons, Katelyn Maloney, Chris Zelek, Evan Clatterbuck, Sebastien Molina and Amos Racer. The team is one of five from Ohio County Schools to qualify for the May VEX Robotics world championships in Dallas. (File Photo)

WHEELING — The accounting is all done, and the “Gateway To The West” robotics tournament this year earned Ohio County Schools enough profit to send all five of its qualifying teams to the world championships in Dallas this spring.

Totals provided by JoJo Shay, innovation coordinator for Ohio County Schools, indicated the event took in $29,250 through team registration fees, and another $45,000 in sponsorships for a total of $74,250.

Expenses were $36,646, leaving a profit of $37,604.

Shay said the amount should come close to covering the cost for the teams to travel to Dallas. In the past, the price tag has been between $35,000 and $40,000.

In addition to the profits from “Gateway To The West,” Ohio County Schools has received a $1,000 West Virginia Space Grant to assist each of the five robotics teams, equaling an additional $5,000 for the teams.

In total, Ohio County Schools will be sending 24 students, their coaches and chaperones to the VEX Robotics World Championships, slated for May 6-14 in Dallas.

It will be the fourth consecutive year WPHS robotics teams have qualified for the world championships, either as outright state champions or finalists, or winners of team awards at the state championships.

Three teams from Wheeling Park High School qualified for the event — “Iron Patriots: X-Ray, “Iron Patriots: Yikes” and “Iron Patriots: Platypus.”

Also two middle school teams will join them in Dallas. They are the “Steel Vikings” from Warwood Middle School and the “Robo-Raiders” from Triadelphia Middle School.

“Gateway To The West” took place for the second consecutive year at The Highlands Sports Complex in late January and early February. The event is a VEX Robotics signature tournament, with tournament winners and those selected winners of excellence awards also qualifying for the VEX Robotics World Championships in Dallas, Texas this spring.

There were 80 high school teams who competed, in addition to 69 middle school teams.

“We should have enough money to travel, based on what we made at the signature event, ” Shay said. “We’re grateful to everyone who continues to support STEM education and the robotics teams.”

She remembers watching some of the students now competing on the high school teams when they were learning robotics at the middle school level.

“It has also been exciting to watch the high school students hone their understanding of what it means to be a contender,” Shay continued. “I have seen giant leaps, and it is exciting to see them reap the rewards of all the work that they have put in.

“We want them to keep getting better. We want to support as many students as we can who are excited about engineering, coding and the design process. We will continue to solidify and build the program, and they can take it as far as they want to go.”

Shay said she is presently arranging the hotel and flight arrangements for the trip to Dallas.

She and others, meanwhile, will be driving a van across the country to Dallas that will be carrying each team’s robots.