Lowe Elementary VEX Robotics Team Will Take on World Competition

Team recently won the state title

By Dyuce Woodson

March 29, 2023—This year marked many firsts for the Lowe Elementary VEX Robotics team. Members recently won their first state championship, and the entire team will soon travel to a never-before-visited city to compete in the World Championships.

“We have never been to Dallas, Texas before, ever,” head coach Adrienne Sams said.

Lowe Elementary will represent Louisville and Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) in the VEX Robotics World Championships in Dallas in early May. While the team is feeling an array of emotions, one student said she's feeling a little anxious.

“My first time over there, and like, the whole world is watching me, so I’m super duper scared,” fourth-grader Tavishi said.

While representing your city and school in a world competition can be nerve-wracking, the team has overcome those nerves and setbacks with a winning, competitive spirit.

For example, they had to completely rebuild their robot just weeks before they were scheduled to compete.

“In the middle of our robot building, we dropped the bot and it shattered into a million pieces,” fifth-grader Latham said. “We had to start over from scratch.” 

This dropped happened two weeks before a competition, Sams said. 

“We get to the competition, and those kids are having to both bulk and cut and sore to get it into specs,” Sams said. “It has to go through inspection eight times before they can even get on the board.”

The team had to start from scratch much later than they would’ve wanted, but it all worked out for the best, Sams said. 

Although the team is the reigning state champions, they’re not satisfied with just being the best in the Commonwealth. When they get to Dallas, their goal is to come back shining the brightest of the hundreds of teams they’ll be competing against. 

“It’s an honor to do it,” Sams said. “It’s an honor for the kids to have this opportunity. I mean, it’s nerve-wracking because you want to go, and you don’t want to let people down, and that’s why they’re in there working now.” 

Latham says he understands how important going to this competition is, and he’s ready to show everyone what Lowe has to offer. 

“To represent our school in front of the entire world, it just feels kind of overwhelming, but also, it makes me feel confident,” he said. “Everyone’s going to know we’re a part of the Lowe Robotics Team. It makes me feel proud.” 

Click here if you would like to help the team with the expenses of the trip.