May 3, 2023

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP, NJ (MERCER)–The Hamilton High School West Robotics Team competed in the FIRST Robotics World Championships in Houston, Texas in April 2023. Led by Hamilton High School West coach, Mr. Matthew Palmere, Hamilton HS West was ranked 29th out of 77 teams showing their strength and ability in each match. Overall worldwide, 2495 HiveMind ranked 542nd out of 3,296 teams outscoring nearly 84% of all teams.

On April 26, 2023 the HiveMind Robotics Team presented their competition results to the Hamilton Township Board of Education. Below are excerpts from their presentation:

“Over the past several years, West Principal, Mr. Smith has supported our team with the help of the Board of Education. We have been working to reach our potential using STEM principles, especially science and engineering. We have consistently raised the bar for student engagement and strive for excellence in all the work we do from showing team spirit, programming, to designing and building a robot.”

“This past season, which began in January, our team worked to produce a high quality robot that was able to effectively complete the game tasks. We designed and built our machine capable of scoring in an efficient way. We competed at the Robbinsville district event and won the event, a feat which we have not done since our first win in 2013. In addition to winning the event we also won the prestigious Team Spirit Award. At our second event in Montgomery, we finished in second place as finalists. These successes earned us a qualifying spot to the FIRST Mid-Atlantic Championship at Lehigh University. Upon completion of the FIRST Mid-Atlantic Championship,  HiveMind qualified for the FIRST World Championship.”

“I am extremely proud of this team. They put their heart and soul into this season and are now reaping the rewards from all their hard work. Their accomplishments this season have been outstanding and my hope is that they will make it back to the World Championship next year,” shared Mr. Brian Smith, Hamilton High School West Principal.

“As you can see, we’ve had a very busy year. All the late nights have paid off for us. The FIRST program is not just about building robots. It is about building students. Seeing students grow as the year progressed was exciting for me as well as our students. Again, thank you all for the support of team 2495 HiveMind, Hamilton West Robotics,” expressed Coach Palmere.

“Congratulations to Hamilton High West’s Robotics Team 2495 HiveMind on an amazing year. The team designed, built, and competed with a robot that required a clear understanding of STEM principles. Their success is an example of what our Hamilton Township Public School students can achieve when given a challenge and competition. We are all proud of their success,” expressed Dr. Scott Rocco, Superintendent of Schools.

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Hamilton High School West Robotics Team  2495 HiveMind. Pictured left to right: Matt Palmere, Coach, Gabriel Artaud, Mentor, Gina Wong, Kayla Vo, Kevin Us,Mentor, Zack Smoyak, William Almodoval, Brooke Almadoval, Kenneth Gao, Samantha Gonzalez, Jerry Ely, Mentor, Eiram Cintron, Connor Longmuir, Camila Orozco, Robert Fields, Ivy Gao, Andrew Fass, Ashena Gamboa-Mora, Mentor, and Andrew Hanson, Mentor

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Hamilton High School West Robot

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