THE RED HAWKS Robotics’ 2024 drive team poses with the Divisional Finalist trophy. From left to right: Sid Trzepacz, Addy Hickey, team mentor Justin Tervay, Kate Urchuk and Ronan Melville.
By HANNAH HASELTINE
MELROSE — Melrose High School’s robotics team, Red Hawk Robotics, had the privilege of participating in FIRST Robotics’ World Championship for the second year in a row. The event took place from April 17th through the 20th in Houston, Texas.
Before the season had even started at Kickoff back in January, the team had high hopes of attending Worlds again after making a historic trip to Houston last spring. They were able to rack up enough qualification points at both of the district events they attended to qualify for the New England District Championship. At these events, the team received two awards: the Creativity Award sponsored by Rockwell Automation and the Sustainability Award sponsored by Dow.
Melrose competed in the Richardson division at the New England District Championship, finishing rank 18 and being the first pick of the sixth seed alliance. Their journey in the playoffs met an unfortunate end when they lost to the third and seventh seed alliances. It was after this event that they learned they had not earned enough qualification points to be invited to the World Championship in Houston – the only hope of qualifying was making it off one of the long waitlists.
Despite the grim odds, the team received the exciting news on April 11th that they had qualified off of the waitlist, leaving them with just five days to pack and be on their way to Houston.
At Worlds, the team competed in the Milstein division as one of seventy-five teams. They got to compete alongside some familiar teams as well as teams from as far as California, Brazil, Israel, and Tokyo. After the qualification matches, the team had an impressive finish, sitting at rank 11. They were then selected as the second pick by the second seed alliance captain, team 8033: Highlander Robotics, from Piedmont, California. The other members of their alliance included fellow New England team 6329: The Bucks’ Wrath, from Bucksport, Maine; and 1730: Team Driven from Lees Summit, Missouri as first and third picks respectively. Their alliance made it to the division finals, finishing as one of the top 16 alliances at the entire competition, which is the best the team has ever placed at an official competition.
Overall, the team had a successful season of highs and lows, and their accomplishments continue to gain notice from community members and others across the globe.
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The Red Hawk Robotics’ Class of 2024 Seniors were Liam Brown, Alan Cardenas, Gavin Chaires, Swami Coupet,, Rebecca Mallozzi, Ronan Melville. Adam Nagar and Nick Nguyen
