The Hawktimus Prime drive team controls the robot during the games. From left, Jimmy Campbell, Randy Burns, Emma Swartzfager, Will McNabb, and Dillon Brogan.
Kalyn Oltrogge described herself as a loner. When she started at Holly Springs High School, she says, she had a hard time “finding her people.”
That was until she “tried robotics and loved it.”
It’s hard to imagine a version of Kalyn who didn’t fit in. When I met her, she was confident, passionate, and surrounded by friends who looked to her for leadership.
Kalyn serves as co-president of Hawktimus Prime FIRST Robotics team, a group of around 30 students based at Holly Springs High School.
“This has been my high school, my family. These are the people who celebrate my victories and cry for my losses. It’s been a joy to spread that to others,” Kalyn says.
Much like a NASCAR race, Hawktimus Prime teammates and coaches make adjustments to their robot in “the pit” during competitions.
On the night of the team’s robot reveal in March, Kalyn spoke from an auditorium stage about her passion for sharing robotics in underserved communities and encouraging other girls to experience a field dominated by males.
“My first year, I was the only girl. My second year, I became build president. My third year, I stepped more into the outreach side, trying to reach out to other people. Now we have five girls,” she says.
“It’s been my goal to make sure that young girls and young people of color and underprivileged communities have access to robotics. There’s nothing more magical than seeing those little kids’ eyes light up with the possibilities of something they’ve never even thought possible.”
The team of drivers controls the robot just outside of the game arena. Robots are programmed to operate autonomously for the first 15 seconds of each battle.
If you are wondering, what in the world is FIRST Robotics? I was in your shoes when this story initially came across my desk.
FIRST — which stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology — is a global nonprofit that promotes STEM disciplines and life skills through robotics programs.
Every January, FIRST releases a new game scenario. The participating teams nationwide spend the next eight-ish weeks designing, building, and testing a robot to compete in an action-packed arena against other groups’ creations.
“We have to completely build our robot from scratch. You are not allowed to build anything beforehand,” says Kalyn. “It’s definitely a challenge to build this robot in six to eight weeks. We are working right up to the last second.”
The competition season begins in March — the culmination of hours of work during afternoons and evenings after school, plus weekends. It starts with regional events, followed by statewide, then eventually the World Championships in mid-April. The 2023 Hawktimus Prime team earned a spot in the World Championships.
Cam Rasey, co-president and veteran team member, welcomes the new FIRST challenge every year and isn’t discouraged by the volume of work required.
“This looks like a game. Let me see what we can learn,” Cam describes. “There is a lot to do, but we break it down into small parts.”
Kalyn Oltrogge, Hawktimus Prime co-president, cheers alongside parents, mentors, and teammates at the FIRST Robotics competition in Rolesville.
The students learn CAD, computer programming, electrical wiring, and mechanical engineering in their pursuit of robotics glory.
“This club gave me a lot of confidence. I used to feel like I didn’t really know what I was doing, and I didn’t know how to do basic engineering stuff. Now I feel confident to go up and tell you how we built our entire robot and explain the competition to you,” says Mars Chen, one of the five girls on the 2025 team.
“Another really great thing I’ve enjoyed with the team is all the opportunities it gave me to learn new things. It’s really awesome to feel like I’m part of something bigger than myself, to feel like I’m part of a community that cares.”
“You get to be around like-minded people, people who are accepting and want to see you get better. Everyone is pushing each other forward,” says Chris Oseki, the team’s safety and operations captain.
“The competitions are always really fun. There are lots of other good teams. You can feel the air while you are in there — all these like-minded people and families are there, and everyone is super excited to see what the robots can do.”
Thirty-two teams competed at this season’s opening competition, held at Rolesville High School in March. Hawktimus Prime’s robot, named Hammerstrike, battled other bots from neighboring towns, including the Slice robotics team from Fuquay-Varina and the Static team also from Holly Springs.
After two such district-level competitions, Hawktimus Prime advanced to the state championship, marking the fourth year in a row the team reached the statewide contest.
After two district events, Hawktimus Prime advanced to the 2025 FIRST Robotics state championships in Greensboro in April.
“When you are at those competitions, it is the coolest vibe,” says parent Jim Campbell. “It is so cool in there. Every kid gets to express themselves.”
Jim is one of several parent mentors and coaches who volunteer hours helping the team learn skills and disciplines needed to complete the robot.
“I help on the build side — knowing how to put things together, how to troubleshoot. It’s really fun watching the students use a tool for the first time. You show them once, and then, boom, the rest of their life they know how to run a drill press or a band saw,” says Jim.
Hawktimus Prime is coached by Neal Haggard and Steve Rasey, both parents of team members. Neal, a computer programmer at SAS, shared his professional expertise to help the team create the code that operates the robot.
“It helped them break down the problem and split it up into multiple people, to take that job and allow multiple programmers to work on it,” says Neal. “Before the robot was even built, they had written all the base code.”
The coaches and mentors give nearly as many hours to the cause as the students.
“The adults love to be there almost as much as the kids do. There is a lot of fun happening,” says Jim.
Students and parents also work hard to secure funding for the program through grants, sponsorships, and donations.
“Budgeting has been an issue in the past. Not having replacement parts to change out as things wear out was a huge deal last year,” says Kris Oltrogge, mom to Kalyn. “The money doesn’t buy you better design — that has to be the kids — but it definitely makes it possible to be more consistent performing in competitions. It still takes talent, but that funding takes you to the next level.”
Free and open sharing of knowledge is an undercurrent that unites the entire team, from the coaches to the first-year members. Parents offer their expertise, which the students expand on throughout the season, then pass on to the underclassmen as new members join the group.
FIRST chose REEFSCAPE as the competition theme for 2025. Each team built their robot to harvest “algae” and place “coral” onto the reef at various heights.
“The team has been around for 15 years. It is important to pass that knowledge on to the next generation. The team is constantly revolving,” says Neal.
Cory Oltrogge, Kalyn’s father and former coach, witnessed his daughter — and many other students — find their place at Holly Springs High School in Hawktimus Prime.
“There is the sense of family and community that we have here. We are a home for a lot of kids that don’t have a home in the school. When they come to robotics, they feel like they have a place.”
