Four for Four: SFS VEX to Dallas for the Fourth Year in a Row

Photo courtesy: Dana Cha (10) and the 2024-25 VEX Team

As podium finishers at last winter’s VEX APAC, SFS’ primary robotics team 3723A Millennia has now secured a spot at VEX Worlds, the highest level of competition for high schoolers worldwide. The team—composed of Jayden Lee (11), Eugene Jeong (9), Alex Kil (12), Esther Nam (12), and Eason Ha (11)—earned the spot by competing at this year’s VEX robotics nationals, hosted by Saint Johnsbury Academy Jeju.

For those who aren’t familiar, VEX is a robotics competition in which a group of students, composed of builders, programmers, and drivers, create and control robots in various game modes. The game modes are changed each year, giving teams a limited amount of time to develop and practice with a robot. By facing other teams at Korea’s VEX nationals, Millenia was competing to be one of the top four Korean high school teams to qualify for VEX Worlds in Dallas.

Eugene, the driver of the team, noted, “We thought we had a solid chance of winning, or at least getting on the podium.” This didn’t go as planned, however; minutes before the end of the round of 16, Millennia’s battery cable came loose, leaving their robot immobile. The team had no choice but to despair as the opposition worked furiously to catch up and eventually take the win. “It was the most painful few minutes of my life,” said Jayden. Knocked out before even getting to the semifinals, eight months of building, testing, and practicing had been for nothing.

Despite the initial setback, Millenia’s hopes of being one of the four teams to qualify for the World Championships were not yet gone. Four high school teams go to Worlds: the two top-placing teams and the teams that receive the Excellence and Design awards, which are given based on creativity and innovativeness. “We figured that our best chance was to go for the excellence award,” Eugene explained. With that in mind, the team spent hours in their hotel rooms to refine the robot’s autonomous code—a key criterion of the Excellence Award. But even this wasn’t enough: another team had snagged the award, leaving Millennia without a direct qualification ticket. 

However, an unexpected twist worked in the team’s favor. The two winning teams also happened to claim the Excellence and Design awards. This meant that two spots were now open to the highest-ranked teams in the Robot Skills challenge. Millennia, which had come first in Robot Skills despite their lackluster performance in the main tournament, was next in line for a Worlds ticket! “It was crazy; we’d given up, but suddenly, we were back in,” said Jayden. But even if they hadn’t qualified for worlds, Eugene mentions that the trip would have still been worth it. As with many overseas trips, the team made countless memories: staying up to work on the robot, gluttonizing on Jeju black pig, and Aidan Kopp (9) sleeping in the hotel bathtub just to avoid sharing a bed with Eason Ha (11)! The team also made lasting relationships with other schools’ VEX teams, notably Dwight School Seoul’s 25400F: Millennia’s teammate and fellow victim of mechanical failures in the round of 16.

With their ticket to Dallas secured, where 800 teams will be present to participate, the non-senior members of Millennia—Jayden, Eugene, and Eason—now set their sights on the global stage.