For the first time in program history, a Wakefield High School robotics team has qualified for the VEX Robotics World Championship.
The team, named “Paragon,” secured its spot at Worlds following a standout performance at an international robotics tournament last weekend in Bristol, Tenn.
Competing against 65 teams, Paragon finished third in the qualifying rounds and fought through the elimination bracket to claim one of the event’s three world championship spots.
“This has been a big goal for them, and they’ve put in an extreme amount of time,” Wendy Maitland, a Wakefield teacher and the team’s robotics coach, told ARLnow. “So it was just wonderful to see that they are going.”
Before heading to Dallas in May, Paragon still must compete against 56 teams at the Virginia VEX Robotics State Championship, set for March 15-16 at The Potomac School in McLean. While their performance at states won’t affect their Worlds qualification, it’s another chance to refine their strategy against top teams from Virginia.
From basement builds to the world stage
Paragon’s world championship bid marks the latest milestone for a program that has grown rapidly in recent years.
Like many extracurricular activities, Wakefield’s robotics club struggled to regain momentum after the pandemic. But that changed when Greyson Schroeher, now a Wakefield junior, joined one of the school’s three robotics teams as a first-year.
Participation was low at the time, and many students involved on his team were seniors who lost interest as graduation neared. By the second half of the season, Schroeher was largely running the team on his own.
Rather than letting the program fade, he doubled down. By his sophomore year, the team he joined had rebounded, qualifying them for the robotics state championship for the first time.
Now, he leads Paragon alongside sophomore August Daschke, senior Quinn Zoeller of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, and senior Zachary Tescher of St. Albans in D.C. All members live in Arlington.
How they earned their spot at worlds
Unlike regional and state competitions, which primarily feature teams from the same area, elite tournaments, or signature events, attract top teams from across the country and abroad, making qualification even more difficult.
The tournament has two parts: a qualifying round and an elimination bracket. Each team plays around eight matches in the qualifying round, and their win-loss ratio determines their ranking out of the total number of teams.
Paragon finished third, giving them a strong advantage going into the elimination bracket, where teams pair up in a knockout-style tournament.
“If you have a higher ranking coming out of the qualifying rounds, you’ll get a better teammate for the elimination bracket,” Schroeher told ARLnow.
Matches include both autonomous and driver-controlled periods, with teams earning points by collecting and placing rings, positioning mobile goals, and hanging from a tower for extra points. The autonomous period, which opens each match, relies on pre-programmed commands before a driver takes over to navigate obstacles, score points, and block opponents.
After a grueling series of elimination matches, Paragon secured its Worlds spot with a narrow four-point victory in the final round. Though they tied for first in skills at the competition they placed second due to a tiebreaker.
However, the team is ranked number one in the state.
“They were very confident that they would win the tournament,” Maitland said.
A passion for robotics
For the team, robotics is more than just competition — it’s a passion that started long before high school.
“Our team might have only started a year and a half ago, but it has been one of the most enjoyable things we have ever done,” Zoeller said. “We have all had a passion for engineering and robotics since we were young, pretending to build robots out of cardboard and trying to learn to program. The time we spend together allows us to encourage each other and inspire new ideas, all while having fun.”
While Wakefield has multiple robotics teams, Schroeher’s group has advanced the furthest, a testament to the extra hours they put in after school and on weekends, Maitland says.
In the lead-up to competitions, the team spent long nights at Schroeher’s house, where his family let the them practice in their basement. There, they fine-tuned their robot, tested strategies, and ran simulations to sharpen their performance.
“Building our robot required hundreds of hours of designing, prototyping, and sheer determination to overcome every challenge that was in our way,” Schroeher said. “Most evenings, you can find us working in my basement, trying to perfect everything we can. Every second was worth it, though, when our robot came to life and triumphed over our opponents.”
What’s next?
At Worlds, the team will compete against 800 teams divided into eight divisions, with only the best advancing to the finals. Beyond the competition itself, they’re looking forward to meeting some of the top robotics teams from around the world.
“We’ve chatted online with teams from all around the world, but we’re excited to have the opportunity to get to know the international VEX Robotics community in person,” Tescher said. “We’re also excited to experience the highest level of competition that robotics has to offer.”
For Daschke, the team’s Worlds appearance is also about setting an example for future Wakefield teams.
“Going to Worlds is a brand-new experience for us, and we’re really hoping to learn as much as we can — not just about competing at a higher level, but also about how robots and other teams function at this level,” Daschke said. “We’re hoping to not only work as a team on the same level as the other Worlds-qualified teams but also set a standard for our sister teams at Wakefield to work hard, strive to improve and grow.”
The Paragon robotics team is seeking sponsors to help support their journey to the VEX Robotics World Championship. Those interested in contributing can email Wendy Maitland at [email protected].
