Xaverian Brothers High School Robotics Team Competes in FIRST World Championships in Houston, TX

Xaverian Brothers High School Robotics Team Competes in FIRST World Championships in Houston, TX

By John Gengozian, Xaverian Brothers High School Class of 2025

Hawk Robotics-The Ryken Force, the Xaverian Brothers High School robotics team, has returned from the FIRST World Championships, which were held in Houston, Texas during April 17-20, 2024. The team competed in the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) division and earned its berth to go to Houston by being the Winning Alliance Captain at the FIRST Tech Challenge Massachusetts State Championship at Andover High School on March 9, 2024.

FIRST, which stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology” is a global organization that prepares young people for futures in technology through STEM challenges. FIRST Tech Challenge, is one of the divisions that FIRST has for students in grades 7-12.

The competition in Houston was truly a world event. In the competition, the Ryken Force was paired with teams from Alaska, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Texas, Montreal Canada, The Netherlands and Libya.

The eventual winners of the tournament were from Romania, with alliance mates from California and South Africa. It was an amazing learning experience for the Xaverian robotics team from Westwood. For the 2023-24 season, the Xaverian robotics team placed 142nd in the world out of 7,900 FIRST Tech Challenge Teams, putting the team in the top 2% of all teams playing this year.