Contact:
Patty Murray
313-212-8620
bloomfieldrobotics@gmail.com
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, 4/26/23
From April 18-22, the Bionic Black Hawks of Bloomfield Hills High School competed at the World Championship for FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition), hosted at the George R. Brown convention center in Houston, Texas. Known in FIRST as Team 2834, the Black Hawks are a Hall of Fame Robotics team in their 15th year in competition. FIRST stands for “For Innovation and Recognition of Science and Technology,” and is an organization that runs robotics tournaments to promote educational engagement in STEM. The event in Houston is the top level of championship play run by FIRST and takes place after seven weeks of events held across the world. The Black Hawks traveled far from home to visit this highly competitive event, which includes the best teams from the US, Canada, Mexico, Israel, and many other countries. Facing a tough match schedule as a part of one of the event’s strongest divisions, the Black Hawks performed admirably despite a number of losses. Posting very high scores in the face of some of the best teams, including former world champions and other Hall of Fame teams, the Black Hawks managed to score a high score during one of their matches. The Black Hawks are always excited for this great opportunity to travel across the country to meet and compete with international and national teams. They were also honored to be part of welcoming a new team, Team 321, the RoboLancers, to the Hall of Fame, a yearly tradition of the world championship. As a Hall of Fame team, the Black Hawks are a previous winner of the Chairman’s Award (now known as the Impact award). The Impact Award designates a team that fully embodies FIRST principles and excellence at the World Championship, granting them an invitation to the championship in following years. The Black Hawks continue to represent the FIRST Hall of Fame along with its other members, including four other teams from Michigan.
Coming home, the Black Hawks look to wrap up another successful season and make plans for next year. Though the next season’s game isn’t announced until January, they will be quite busy running various events in the off-season, including an all-girls FRC event, mentoring for younger levels of FIRST, visiting Washington DC as part of SASA’s (Student Association for STEM Advocacy) National Advocacy Conference, and running fundraisers. It’s been a good 15th anniversary year for the Black Hawks, and as the season ends and seniors graduate from the team, everyone is looking forward to new experiences ahead.
The Bionic Black Hawks will be hosting an informational meeting for all students entering 9th – 11th grade who are interested in joining the team on May 17th from 7 – 9 pm at the workshop, 2258 Franklin Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302. Please contact bloomfieldhillsrobotics@gmail.com with any questions.