Member Spotlight: Rhodes Barnette and His Dedication to Learning

This week’s CO:member Spotlight, retired engineer and mentor for the Jackson Area Robotics, proves that you never truly stop learning, even at the age of 77.

Rhodes Barnette is constantly pursuing new hobbies, so when he learned of theCO’s many workshops and classes, he jumped to as many opportunities as he could to gain new knowledge and experiences as a CO:member. In the same fashion, after noticing an ad in the paper for student robotics at Liberty High School, he knew he wanted to help in any way he could (and maybe learn a few tricks along the way).

He acquired the role as student mentor after two years of volunteering and chaperoning for the student robotics club, but building and competing robots out of Liberty High School raised concerns when he heard of students from all over the community who wanted to get involved. After moving and finding random spaces to host their weekly meetings, he realized theCO event space became the perfect area to allow students from all parts of the Jackson community to come together and build robots.

He says he wants to teach students how to think critically and to learn essential problem-solving skills, so from programming to building, he says he wants his students to have a complete understanding of the robots they create. 

“I'd rather have a student-created robot with the wheel fall off than the most magnificent engineering ever seen done by someone's dad's engineering shop,” he says. 

This dedication to his students’ knowledge and personal growth has paid off for Barnette and the team as they have finished their 2020 season with numerous awards including the State Excellence Award at the Tennessee State Championship as well as Division Champion and World Championship Finalist at the VEX Robotics Virtual World Competition. The students have also been invited to the Smithsonian Museum’s Robotics Competition for the last two years and the Google Robotics Competition. 

Championships are not Barnette’s only motivation for mentoring this group of students because he says it’s important for him to see his students learn life skills and lessons they can carry with them for the rest of their lives.  

“When schools want to learn more about the program, I get the students to go and present the robots themselves instead of me going over because honestly, the students are able to speak the language; I don't speak their language anymore,” Barnette laughs. “Many of them are comfortable making presentations and speaking to students, and that's really important for me to see.”  

He says it never ceases to amaze him how creative, inventive, and brilliant the students he works with are, and he is grateful to be able to watch them grow and learn in new and creative ways.

“I enjoy seeing what the students come up with because many of the things they come up with are just totally irrational,” Barnette says with a laugh. “But somehow, they always make it work, and I'm just amazed to learn from them.”