The Robotics Team competed in an intense two-day competition on Saturday and Sunday, Mar. 23 and 24. It took place at Seneca High School, HHS being among the 35 teams competing for 1st place. 77 Hillsborough students represented our school in the competition.

The school’s robotics team meets multiple days a week to work on different robots. These robots will later go on to compete in different activities against robots from other schools. The students use their warehouse to construct their robots and use the fields outside of it to practice for that year’s game.

Each student has a different role they play when it comes to these types of competitions. Some are in the “pits” working on the robots and dealing with the mechanical and electrical parts of things, while other students are Chairman’s presenters, which they talk to the judges about what the team is doing for their outreach. Two students are in charge of controlling the robots, while one student controls the game pieces and actually take part in playing the game. Most of the students cheer on their team in the fan section, playing an instrumental part of building up team morale.

“The goal of Robotics is all about outreach and spreading STEM throughout our community, and being graciously professional,” senior Abby Johnstone said. “It’s honestly an honor to work with such a great group of people.”

For this competition, the team earned 5th place and was 4th in Alliance Captain, moving on to quarterfinals. Junior Amanda Richardson received the Dean’s List award, and along with one other student, continued to compete at the District Championships. The most exciting part had to be when the team won the Chairman’s Award, which is the most prestigious award they could have won. It has been five years since the school has won that honor, and this is just the start for this year’s 2019 robotics team.