In the spring of 2021, a group of students gathered eagerly around newly appointed faculty moderators, Mr. Christopher Roche and Mr. John Tassinari, for an introduction to Xaverian's brand new robotics club. They had one goal in mind: to learn how to construct a robot and train a team that would be ready to compete in the FIRST FTC Robotics Competition that fall.

Fast forward three years to April 17, 2024. Members of Xaverian's robotics team, now known as Hawk Robotics -- The Ryken Force, are the Massachusetts FIRST FTC state champions and they are sharing a stage with teams from around the globe at the FIRST FTC World Championship tournament in Houston, Texas.

How did they get here? According to Mr. Roche, the team spent nearly 800 hours building, practicing, and refining their robot, its coding, and their strategy in preparation for competition. "Not all students are present for every building session or practice," he clarified. "However, there are a few students who have put in this kind of time." This time included after school practices, weekend meetings, scrimmages, and the occasional field trips to places like Accurounds in Avon.

These trips, made possible with the help of the Xaverian community, have been incredibly beneficial to the team. In the summer of 2023, the Hawks were given the opportunity to visit EconoCorp, a leading manufacturer of secondary packaging equipment, and meet its chief operating officer and Xaverian alumnus, Sam Goldberg '16. Since then, the collaboration has only been strengthened. Not only did EconoCorp provide the team with its first-ever sponsorship, but Sam visited with the Hawks on numerous occasions, often armed with new design ideas and materials for the team to use in their builds.

Another huge support for The Ryken Force has been Mr. Mike Lopez, father to team members Matthew '24 and Josh Lopez '27. As their first official mentor, he not only provided valuable knowledge, he also acquired the team's first grant through Qualcomm, which helped cover competition fees and new materials needed throughout the year. "Collaboration with the Xaverian community has been outstanding," says Mr. Roche. "It's a big reason why we have achieved so much success this year!"

To fully appreciate the success of The Ryken Force's season, it's important to know the competition parameters. As explained on the FIRST website, "FIRST Tech Challenge students learn to think like engineers. Teams design, build, and code robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams. Robots are built from a reusable platform, powered by Android technology, and can be coded using a variety of levels of Java-based programming."

In January, the Hawks joined several other teams at Weston High School for the FIRST FTC Season Kickoff, in which this year's games were revealed. And just three short weeks later, the team had created their first prototype robot and had begun testing their designs during scrimmages. Their second prototype gave The Ryken Force dramatically different endgame results. After lessons learned from one scrimmage and two playoffs with this design, the team dominated the competition at the Massachusetts FIRST FTC State Robotics Championship. In the opening round-robin matches, the team finished undefeated in a pool of 32 of the state's best high school robotics teams. Combining their undefeated record with overall points, the team went into the playoff rounds as the second overall seed, gaining them captain status of the second alliance.

The Ryken Force again went undefeated, winning each of the best of three semi-final and final rounds, 2-0. "I was absolutely ecstatic to see the team be named Massachusetts State Champions," says team captain Paul Fischer '24. "It felt like the ultimate payoff for the countless hours of work we put into the robot, and it automatically gave us a spot at Worlds -- a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

The Ryken Force was one of only four teams to represent the Commonwealth at the FIRST FTC World Championship tournament in Houston, Texas, in April, joining 243 other FTC championship winning teams from around the globe to compete on the world stage. During the competition, The Ryken Force was paired with teams from Alaska, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Texas, Canada, the Netherlands, and Libya.

Despite solid game play, the competition at Worlds was tough. The team competed in many close matches and earned one solid victory. However, after two days of round robin matches, the Hawks' strong run ended. Members of Xaverian's robotics team aren't discouraged though. In fact, their excitement about next year is palpable. "I hope our team continues to grow," says Cody Coye '25. "Everyone is learning something new along the way, so if you're interested in joining us, don't feel intimidated! More people on the robotics team could lead to multiple teams forming from Xaverian. Maybe we could get two teams to the World Championship next year!"



Jacob A. Conca, Ph.D., is the head of school at Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, Massachusetts.