The Rosie Robotics team from Agawam High School pose for a group photo at the 2025 FIRST World Championship in Houston, Texas, in mid-April. This was the first time the team made it to the world competition since 2016.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
AGAWAM — What a difference a year makes. In 2024, for the first time in nearly a decade, FIRST Team 839 — also known as Rosie Robotics — at Agawam High School competed at the FIRST Robotics Competition’s New England regional district championship.
They were among 96 teams from the six New England states at the Eastern States Exposition. Reaching the regional championship was an important milestone for the team — even though they didn’t score enough points to advance to the world championship event. Rosie Robotics not only met its goal, they surpassed it. The team set its sights on competing at the world championships in 2025.
Rosie Robotics achieved that goal by becoming the district’s champs in early April. This earned them an invite to the 2025 FIRST World Championship in Houston, Texas. There, in mid-April, Rosie Robotics competed against 600 teams from around the world. This was the first time since 2016 and the fourth time since the team was formed 24 years ago that it has made a trip to the world championship.
Several of the nearly 20 students on the team, along with Dana Henry, lead mentor and co-founder of Rosie Robotics, shared some of their experiences from the world championship with the School Committee at its April 29 meeting.
Kassie Sagan, lead marketer for Rosie Robotics and one of five girls on the team, said she wanted to extend “a big thank you” to the community and the School Committee for their donations that helped the team get to Houston. “Your generosity has really meant the world to us, and we really, really appreciate it more than anything. Thank you so much,” she said.
Tim Rua said that at the championship, Rosie team members got the opportunity to “talk to, learn from and absorb stuff” from individuals from all around the world who are the best in robotics. “It’s inspiring, and it gives us something to look forward to and to aspire to, especially the organizations that were there.”
Rua said NASA and Raytheon Technologies were among various companies and organizations that came to Houston to demonstrate how robotics is used in different fields across the world and how students from FIRST could help those companies. “It really made an impact on us — and that experience was only made possible because of the community’s generosity shown toward us.”
Kylie Henry said being able to go to the world championship because of the generosity of those who donated to the team had an impact on him and the entire team. “It was definitely big for us to be able to go see other teams and just show our team spirit around the world to everyone who was there.”
Nikki Athas joined the team last fall to learn how to weld and the senior is now leaving after learning so much more than just welding. “It was one of the best experiences I think I could have gone through. I made so many new friends and great memories. We went to worlds, and that was awesome. I mean, I never thought that we would get there. Then it really sunk in that we were actually going to Houston.”
Dana Henry told the committee that the top FIRST robotics teams in the world are “elite” teams that are well funded, with six-figure budgets every year. He said the robot Agawam put on the field was as good as many of the elite teams.
“As the reigning champions, we’re now number one in New England. We were number 13 ranked out of the 190 teams in New England and, 116 in the U.S. Out of 2,900 teams in the world, we are ranked 145. I think that’s a pretty good showing, and we hope to continue moving forward,” said Henry.
“We’ve talked a lot about the on-field performance, but we’re actually in the business of not building robots. We’re in the business of building kids and that’s what it’s all about: building the kids to be better at whatever they do,” he added.
In their comments, committee members heaped praise on the robotics team for making it to the world championship.
A.J. Christopher told Henry that it was outstanding to watch the GoFundMe page grow and see how the town rallied behind the team. “So, congratulations to you guys, glad you enjoyed it. You kept saying that you got to play with the best teams. You’re one of the best, too. So, give yourselves the credit there. Great job.”
Vice Chair Shelley Borgatti-Reed said what the team accomplished, and what they learned from their experience in Houston, was “truly amazing.” She added that the whole town was rooting for Rosie. “You were the talk on Facebook, the news, everything. So, congratulations. Job well done. You made me proud.”
Catherine McDougal said she appreciated hearing from team members and what they took away from the competition. “It really spoke to me that everybody had something that really stood out to them. I’m just so impressed with each and every one of you.”
Wendy Rua, who is also one of eight mentors to the team, said some team members who have been in robotics since kindergarten have always dreamed about going to worlds. “It’s always been something that you were striving for harder and harder to achieve and you did it,”
