Robotics Reign in Williamson County, TN

Brentwood Academy’s robotics program has long list of accomplishments.

By Kevin Litwin on November 15, 2023

Brentwood Academy

The robotics program at Brentwood Academy in Williamson County, TN, keeps adding to its long list of impressive technological accomplishments.

The Iron Eagles 9364 is a group of Brentwood Academy high school and middle school students who build advanced robotic machines on campus and enter their robots in several top competitions during the year. In 2022-23, the Iron Eagles competed at places such as Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, Green Bay’s Lambeau Field in Wisconsin, Mall of America in Minnesota and the Canadian Open in Ontario.

“We also compete every year at the VEX Robotics World Championship that attracts teams from around the globe, including from China, Russia and the Middle East,” says Chris Allen, Brentwood Academy’s technology/robotics program director. “Since our launch in 2013, more than 200 students in grades 6-12 have competed for the Iron Eagles, and one-third of those students have been girls.”

Over the years, the Iron Eagles have won 62 Tennessee State Championship awards as well as a prestigious 2015 VEX World Champion Design & Engineering Division title presented by Northrop Grumman. The school’s accomplishments also include a 2019 VEX World Champion Excellence Award-Middle School Division presented by Google.

In addition, Brentwood Academy hosts its own VEX Signature Event every October around Halloween.

“We call our competition ‘Haunted,’ and it has become so popular that many robotics teams from all over the country fly here to compete,” Allen says. “Making our Haunted event even more impressive is that it’s also a qualifier for teams wanting to eventually compete in the annual VEX Robotics World Championship.”

Allen adds that many Brentwood Academy robotics students have landed in some of the top engineering schools in the country, including Auburn, Dartmouth, MIT, Purdue, Vanderbilt and the United States Naval Academy.