News Photo by Julie Goldberg Alpena High School robotics coaches Elly Diamond, left, and Jesse Pattison, second from left, brainstorm different concept design ideas for robots with students during practice on Wednesday.

ALPENA — The For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology Robotics season kicked off this week as teams started putting their robots together before competitions in a few weeks.

The Alpena High School Wildcat Robotics program has had a change in coaches this season as Student Support Facilitator Jesse Pattison and teacher Elly Diamond stepped in to replace teacher Melissa Doubek, who had been the coach since the program started in 2014.

Doubek is now teaching a project-based learning class at the high school and, along with being the Science Olympiad coach for the school, she ran out of time to do everything.

“I couldn’t do it all,” Doubek said. “The opportunity presented itself that Jesse and Elly are around and know robotics, so it all worked out to give providing great opportunities for students.”

Pattison was the Hillman High School robotics coach for the 2017-18 school year when that program started. He’s hoping that experience will help him throughout this season with Alpena.

“The opportunity to take on a rookie team three years ago was really incredible for me, because I got to learn every aspect of FIRST Robotics,” Pattison said. “I can come in and, between myself, Elly, and all the mentors, I’m able to take a step back and use my experiences to help guide the kids.”

Diamond has been around the Wildcat Robotics program since it started because of her children’s involvement, so she knows what the season is like and how to help the students learn.

“It’s fun to watch the kids learn and grow,” she said. “I’m thankful that we’ve had the support we’ve had to be able to organize the space, so I feel really good about that.”

The two coaches have made some changes this season. One change is how the teams are organized. Team 5230 is all new members, while Team 5505 is full of experienced members.

“We combined some of the kids that were on 5230 with 5505,” Pattison said. “They have meshed perfectly, it’s almost been seamless.”

The students met with Pattison and Diamond on Sunday and talked about expectations for the season, which Pattison said was a great way to begin everything.

“I think it set a very positive tone for the season, that we’re all in this together, we understand what we expect of each other, and we’ve seen nothing but good things since,” Pattison said.