‘Mr. Roboto VEX IQ’

Mountain Brook Junior High teacher James Salvant started his first robotics program at Oak Mountain Middle School about seven years ago. 

When he was hired as the technology teacher at MBJH, he used his experiences to build yet another robotics program, one that has found success and support.

This year, Salvant took eight Mountain Brook teams to the robotics world championship in Louisville to compete against 800 teams from around the world. 

Several Mountain Brook teams qualified for finals in their divisions for Worlds and represented the top two percent of robots in the world. Crestline team 35213C walked away ranked third in its division, and two MBJH teams placed eighth and 10th in their divisions. MBJH also won the Build Award in the Engineering Division.

Oak Mountain had one school place 10th in its division.

The year prior, Mountain Brook and Oak Mountain teams both earned divisional world championship titles, meaning two of the four divisional world championships came from Alabama schools — and from programs Salvant created. 

The success of these programs, and his success in robotics have earned him international recognition. 

In early April, the International Engineering and Educator Association (ITEEA) awarded Salvant the Program Excellence Award at its 80th annual conference in Atlanta.

The ITEEA is an organization for technology and engineering teachers to “bounce ideas off of each other,” Salvant said, and gives those in the field the chance to share their professionalism and practices. 

In order to be considered for the Program Excellence Award, Salvant had to be recommended for the award before a committee vetted the candidates.

According to the ITEEA website, the Program Excellence Award is “one of the highest honors given to technology and engineering education programs at the elementary, middle and high school levels.” 

Awards are given to winners from elementary, middle and high school levels from each state, and awardees “serve as models for their colleagues, inspiration to their communities and leaders in their region … as proponents of advancing technological literacy for all.”

“It was crazy,” he said. “It was really good to get the recognition.”

Salvant said the conference had attendees from all over the world, including a group from China and a group from Australia.

“The mind power in that building was just insane at that time,” he said. “It was really neat to see what other people are doing, and it got me really excited about a program I’m going to put in next year for one of my classes.”

While Salvant was recognized for his success in the robotics programs he started and currently coaches, he also was commended for his contributions to robotics across the state. 

In the last four to five years, Salvant said he spent a lot of time traveling to different school districts who didn’t have robotics programs.

By helping to train teachers and students, bringing in students for demonstrations and educating other schools about the VEX IQ program — which was specifically chosen because it is a worldwide platform — Salvant contributed to the massive surge in robotics that Alabama has seen in grades K-9 in the last four to five years.

“We saw about a 400 percent growth in the robotics programs [in the state],” he said. 

The main focus was in the elementary and middle school grades, he said, so when the students reach high-school age they are more prepared to practice and compete.

The REC Foundation, which hosts the world championship, also recognized him as Mentor of the Year for expanding the field, he said. 

His involvement in the VEX IQ platform has earned him the nickname “Mr. Roboto VEX IQ,” and Salvant said people will seek him out for advice or assistance at competitions if they need it. And Salvant is glad the recognition goes back to Mountain Brook robotics and its student competitors, too.

“It’s good for the schools, it’s good for our community,” he said. “And it shows that Mountain Brook tries to do stuff right.”