By: Nathaniel de Sam Lazaro

On September 24, 2024 the robotics team had our first meeting. We had many new members join and check out the team, and overall it was a huge success. However, we are always welcoming new members and would love for more people to join (especially new freshmen). In this article I will explain some important details about the robotics team and why you should want to be a part of it.

Our robotics team is part of a larger organization called First Robotics Competition, or FRC. FRC is a worldwide competition with thousands of teams. Every year, these teams compete by designing robots to compete and win a game. The game is revealed at the start of each calendar year, and this begins “build season,” which lasts about two months before competitions start. Highland normally competes in two competitions, one is in Duluth and the other in Minneapolis. If the team does well enough in these competitions, we get to go to the world championships in Houston, TX.

In the fall, we prepare for the competition season and welcome new members to the team. This year, we are competing in the MiniTrials, which is a smaller early competition that takes place in the fall.  New members design a robot to compete in a smaller game, with older students serving as mentors. This allows new members to gain important skills ahead of the competition season this winter.

The robotics team allows students to gain useful skills in engineering, programming, business, and many other things. It helps you gain important skills of working on a team, being a leader, and solving problems. It is also loads of fun, and you get to go on the trip to Duluth for the competition and see your work pay off.

The robotics team meets every Tuesday, and often Thursdays and Saturdays in the woodshop, room 0154 after school. We hope to see you there, as we are always welcoming new members.