On Thursday, March 19, Belleville High School elected to host a home Robotics event with FIRST, inviting teams from other schools to compete for a chance to go to the state championship at Saginaw Valley State University.
FIRST Robotics is a global robotics competition. A new game is released every early January. The competition gives teams 2 months to build a robot to play in the game. At competitions, teams are randomly placed in teams of three called alliances for qualification matches. After the qualification matches are completed, alliances are selected for the playoffs. After the top teams pick their partner, they are paired for the playoffs, which is a double elimination.
This event was hosted at Belleville High School from March 19 to March 21, marking the first time they were elected to do so. In addition, around 38 teams from around Michigan traveled to the high school for the event.
Team 6615, the Bellevillians, was started in 2017 by Mr.Watkins and Mr. Lang. In 2024, they qualified for the Michigan State Champs for the first time, and they managed to advance to the World Championship in Houston, Texas. Although they didn’t win, it was a great fight for the team. In 2025, they once again qualified for the State championship and world championship, finishing 57th in Michigan.
The team this year made it special as it was their fourth event win, and it was the first time they won at home and the first time they won as the captain of their alliance. This allowed them to qualify for the state championship for the third year in a row.
In a quote from Ms. Hasima, a coach for the team, “Adults step back so students can take the lead in every aspect, from designing and building the robot to making decisions and even coaching on the field. It’s exhausting at times, but seeing how much this team has grown and knowing the students did it themselves makes it something we’re all incredibly proud of.”
As the team heads to the State championship at Saginaw Valley State University from April 16th to April 18th, they hope to receive as much support as they can, as they provide lots of hard work so they can advance to the World Championship in Houston, Texas, from April 29th to May 2nd.
