The VEX V5 Robotics Program attended the California State Championships in San Diego from February 28-March 1. All of the middle school teams qualified for the States Tournament, marking the first time this has ever happened in the history of the Robotics program. 462V is advancing, along with the top teams to the Worlds VEX V5 Championships, which will happen during April 21-30 in St. Louis, Missouri. The state tournament happened during the 28th through March 1.
At the tournament, students had fun, connected, and made new friends inside the VEX Robotics community.
”I think success is always, hey, I played my best or I did the best that I could while I was in that environment, ” Eric Kim ’31 said. ”I always feel good when I can leave an event or a tournament and say to myself, hey, I did everything I could. I gave myself the best chance to win. There’s so many things in robotics that are out of our control.”
Over the season, the teams have gone through an iterative process, repairing and working to improve their robots as the season goes on.
”I think my favorite memory is it’s not any one thing. It’s just the feeling that this group of students has created in the lab. So every day when we have practice, I come in, there’s a collaborative spirit between grades. I often see ninth graders helping seventh graders. I see seventh graders helping other seventh graders. There’s a real community that we’ve built, and I’m really proud of that,” Robotics Program Head and Science Teacher Tripp Reed said
Noah Lipson ’30 reflected on how teamwork played a role at the tournament.
”Our robot would not move if we missed even one person,” Lipson said. “Everybody’s as important and instrumental to success as the last person.”
The robotics program worked all season to prepare and qualify for this tournament.
“I think probably the biggest obstacle that our teams had to push through is just time. Time is a big constraint for our program. We are fortunate to have 12 teams, but that means that teams are limited to how much practice time they actually get. Independent teams are able to work out of their homes or go to practice whenever they want. But our teams actually have a slight disadvantage because they’re limited to certain days of the week that they can practice,” said Vex Robotics Coach, and science teacher, Tripp Reed.
The Robotics program had only one team that qualified for the Worlds VEX Tournament, 462V, composed of Richard Wang ’29, Keson Jin ’29, Sebastian Lee ’29, Abraham Mendez ’29, and Liam Mayer ’29. 462V placed 4th overall at the California States Tournament and are projected for a good performance at the Worlds Championship.
“I feel confident about our performance at Worlds, but I know that the process and the fun you have along the way is what really matters, and I’m looking forward to it,” Mendez said.
