Upper School

Robotics

Team RoboHawk

A varsity sport for the mind. That's how FIRST® describes competitive robotics, and it's exactly what happens when Highland's Upper School students join Team RoboHawk.

Team RoboHawk is Highland's FIRST® Robotics Competition team, FRC Team 3373. Every year, students design, program, and build an industrial-sized robot from a kit of parts, then take it to compete against teams from across Virginia and beyond. The challenge changes every January. The stakes stay real.

This isn't a club that meets to talk about engineering. It's a team that experiences it firsthand.

Open to students in Grades 8 to 12

Team RoboHawk is open to every student in grades 8 through 12. No experience required. You don't need to arrive knowing how to code or wire a motor. You need to be willing to learn, willing to show up, and willing to own your role. Some students walk in fluent in CAD software. Others have never touched a wrench. Both belong here.

What matters is commitment. Bring that, and the team will teach you the rest.

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Two teams. One firm

Team RoboHawk doesn't run like a classroom. It runs like a technology company.

The team splits into two divisions that work in tandem, each essential to the season. Click on the expanding boxes below to learn more:

List of 2 items.

The Build Team

The Build Team designs, engineers, and constructs the robot. They solve mechanical, electrical, and programming problems under strict rules and tight deadlines, and deliver a highly capable competition robot.
The Business Team

The Business Team raises the funds, manages the budget, builds the team's brand, and tells RoboHawk's story to sponsors and the community.

Neither side wins alone. A brilliant robot with no funding never makes it to the competition. A well-run organization with no robot has nothing to compete. Students learn fast that engineering and enterprise depend on each other.

That's how the real world works. RoboHawk works the same way.

What students actually do

They don't watch robotics happen. They make it happen. On Team RoboHawk, students:

Design, engineer, and build an industrial-sized robot from the ground up.
Program it to complete precise, high-pressure tasks on the competition field.
Wire electrical systems, machine parts, and troubleshoot failures on the fly.
Work shoulder to shoulder with professional mentors in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering.
Raise money, court sponsors, and manage a real operating budget.
Build a team identity and represent Highland at FIRST® competitions across Virginia and around the region.

Professional mentors volunteer their time and expertise, guiding students through problems they'll never encounter at a desk. Students get their hands on sophisticated hardware and software. They fail, they diagnose, they rebuild. They ship a working robot on a deadline.

This is as close to real engineering as a high schooler can get.

Why it matters

Robotics teaches what a textbook can't. Under real constraints, including limited parts, limited time, and rules that don't bend, students learn to think like engineers and lead like professionals. They break a massive problem into pieces. They assign roles. They negotiate, compromise, adapt, and recover when the first design fails. And they do it as a team, because no one builds a competition robot alone.

The payoff reaches beyond the workshop. Students involved in FIRST® Robotics teams are far more likely to pursue science and engineering in college. Team members compete for a share of more than $16 million in scholarships available through FIRST®. And the skills they build, including design thinking, project management, and collaboration under pressure, travel with them long after graduation.

Grades measure what you know. Robotics reveals what you can do.

Part of a bigger journey

In Highland's Upper School, students are trusted with real responsibility and expected to rise.

Team RoboHawk lives at the heart of that idea. Students lead when it's uncomfortable. They step into roles they've never held. They take ownership of an outcome that carries their school's name onto the competition floor. It's the Upper School story in action: challenge met with courage, and preparation that means more than a transcript.

For students who want to go deeper, robotics connects directly to Highland's Pre-Engineering Certificate, a pathway that turns hands-on curiosity into a rigorous course of study. What starts as a season on the team can become the foundation of a future.

Step boldly. Lead courageously. Build something that competes.

Get involved

The best way to understand Team RoboHawk is to see it up close.

Come watch a build session. Talk to a team member. Ask about the next season's challenge and how you might fit into the Build Team or the Business Team. Whether you're a prospective student curious about engineering or a family exploring what Highland's Upper School makes possible, there's a place for you here.

Ready to learn more? Reach out, and we'll help you find your role on the team.