The Helias Catholic High School Robotics Team earned a spot at the Missouri/Kansas Regional Championship for the first time this year, a big milestone for the team in its 11th year of existence.

The RoboCrusaders finished in the top half of teams at the regional championship March 2 — 14th out of the 36 most competitive teams from the seven leagues (178 teams) that make up the region.

“The team did an incredible job and learned so much this year, tackling challenges we have never overcome before,” said Helias Catholic teacher Mrs. Melissa Rockers, who has mentored the team since 2017. “With expanded community involvement, fundraising, engineering and programming, we hope to make a bid to the world championship in the near future.” 

The Helias Catholic Robotics Team (FIRST Team 6889) participates in the FIRST Tech Challenge for students ages 12–18, which encourages teams to design, build, program and engage in robotics competitions to develop STEM skills and practice engineering principles while realizing the value of innovation and teamwork.

One unique aspect of the FIRST Tech Challenge program is its focus on teamwork and collaboration. Teams always partner with another “alliance” team, randomly selected during qualification matches. Then the top four teams pick two teams they want to partner with for the finals.

“Teams never compete alone. This makes it essential for teams to help each other do the best they can through the entire tournament,” said Mrs. Rockers. “In turn, it takes all teams to a higher level of achievement, in contrast with most sports where teams simply compete against each other.”

The 2023–24 team includes eight members: junior Noah Lang; sophomores Collin Holdener, Stephen Kummer and Cody Mackey; and freshmen Trinity Bowers, Ayden Duncan, Edmund Herbert and Pierce Rackers.

At one time Helias Catholic’s robotics program had grown enough to support two teams in 2019, but after the COVID-19 pandemic affected participation the school has been rebuilding the program with Team 6889.

Last year the RoboCrusaders ranked 24th out of 28 teams in their league — making the success of this year’s team even more remarkable. The 2022–23 team also earned a second-place finish for the Connect Award, which recognizes teams for their efforts to connect with their greater community.

Mrs. Rockers also mentors two community FIRST Lego League teams for students in sixth through eighth grades from a variety of educational backgrounds (public, private and home-school).

“Hosting the middle school students at Helias Catholic gives the high school team a way to give back and encourage STEM in the greater community,” Mrs. Rockers said.

The Helias Catholic RoboCrusaders also host a summer robotics camp for area children entering sixth through eighth grades. This year’s camp will be offered July 9–11. Registration is open on the Crusader camps website.

For more information about the community middle school teams, please contact Mrs. Melissa Rockers at mrockers@heliascatholic.com.