FIRST Robotics ’25 at HVA, Knox Catholic, Webb
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Knoxville Catholic High School’s Robitchaun’s 2393 FIRST Robotics team for 2025. - Photos by Tammy Cheek
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Hardin Valley Academy’s RowHAWKtics 3824 team. - Photos by Tammy Cheek
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Webb School of Knoxville’s FIRST Robotics 1466 team for 2025 - Photos by Tammy Cheek
After the kickoff Saturday, Jan. 4, for FIRST Robotics teams around the world, Knox County area schools are preparing their robots for the 2025 FIRST Robotics competition, Reefscape, an ocean exploration theme.
Teams such as Hardin Valley Academy’s RoHAWKtics 3824, Webb School of Knoxville’s Robotics 1466 Team and Knoxville Catholic School’s Robitchaun’s 2393 Team have been working on their robots for upcoming regional competitions.
At Hardin Valley Academy, “in order to get ready, we’ve split our team into different subgroups that are working on different mechanics to score in different ways,” said Leah Jinks, business lead for HVA RoHAWKtics. “We’ve already finished prototyping and are working on assembly now.”
HVA’s 25-member team, led by co-captains Cash Egely and Kate Crass and lead mentor Brandi Kinkead, will be competing in the Rocket City Regionals Wednesday through Saturday, March 12-15, in Huntsville, Alabama, and Smoky Mountain Regionals Thursday through Sunday, April 3-6, in Sevierville.
“Our expectations for this year are as follows: Have a drivable robot for every match, be in the position to choose an alliance and, most importantly, have fun,” Jinks said.
At Knoxville Catholic, “The goal for this year is to have the younger students learn a lot,” KCHS robotics lead mentor Douglas Parris said. “We have five seniors on our team, so a major goal is for them to pass down their knowledge.
“We have roughly 30 active students and nine active mentors,” he added. “We are over 50 percent female as a team, and our leadership positions are 50/50 — two-thirds of out team are freshmen and sophomores.”
Led by team captain Kailin McEnery, along with subteam captains Kaspar Winston (programming), Greyson Benton (build team) and Helen-Rose O’Reilley (business), KCHS’s team plans to compete in the Smoky Mountain Regional in April.
Webb School’s team, led by James Overall and Charlie McDowell, plans to compete in the Magnolia Regional Wednesday through Saturday, March 12-15, in Laurel, Mississippi, and the Smoky Mountains Regional.
“We are now three weeks into the robot-build season, and the team has spent lots of time building prototypes and running data analysis to figure out our optimal robot gameplay strategy,” said Jenifer Lawrie, Webb Upper School science teacher and FIRST Robotics coach/mentor about her team of 32.
“We have just started cutting the parts to assemble our main robot for testing and — eventually — to run at competitions,” she added.
