p
Inquire
l
Apply
Visit
Give

Inquire

1 + 1 =

p

Inquire

l

Apply

Visit

Give

Location & Contact Details

Office Hours

Monday – Friday
7:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Address:

West Catholic High School
1801 Bristol Ave NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49504

Events Calendar

[add_eventon tiles=”yes” tile_count=”2″ tile_bg=”1″]

WC Robotics Reaches Final Four

by | Apr 24, 2023 | Alumni, Parents, Staff, Students

West Catholic High School’s FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC) team is heading back to Michigan after reaching the final four at the FIRST Championship in Houston, Texas. FIRST Championship is a culminating, international event of the high school robotics competition season and an annual celebration of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). More than 600 of the top robotics teams from around the world faced off in this annual event.

This year’s West Catholic FRC team, Enigma 2075, was made up of students from the school as well as individuals from Jenison, Kenowa Hills and West Michigan Aviation Academy. Since January, they have been working together to build and program a robot to compete in CHARGED UPSM – an FRC competition where robots must pick up and place game pieces to complete a grid before racing to dock or engage with a charge station. During the FRC season, Enigma 2075 had top-six finishes in all district and state-level events, which earned them enough points to qualify for the FIRST Championship Event in Houston, Texas.

“West Catholic has had a robotics team since 2007 and we’ve had a lot of success over the years,” West Catholic President/CEO Jill Annable said. “This season was definitely special though, and our entire community was excited to get behind the team and cheer them on through their journey to the FIRST Championship and into the finals.”

At the FIRST Championship, West Catholic was placed in the Johnson Division where they played with and against teams from as close as Albion, Michigan and as far as Kfar Yona, Israel. After the qualification round, Enigma 2075 was ranked first in the division with a record of 9-1-0. As the top team in the division, West Catholic was made the captain of the number one-seeded alliance and was responsible for drafting three other teams to form an alliance for the playoffs. Enigma 2075’s alliance won the Johnson Division and made it all the way to the Einstein Finals, which features the top eight alliances in the entire competition. Facing off against opponents in a double-elimination style bracket, Enigma 2075 finished in the final four alliances in the FRC FIRST Championship.

“Some of our students have been in our program’s youth and high school teams for nine years,” West Catholic’s robotics coach and advisor Paul Dressel shared. “Reaching the Einstein fields was a validation of their hard work.”

UPDATE: The West Catholic robotics team was recently featured on WZZM 13! Check out the story to hear from the team about their recent accomplishments.