The Seaquam Secondary robotics program is ecstatic to announce that one of their teams has won the Excellence Award at the 2026 VEX Robotics World Championship. Team 9181C, made up of grade 11 and 12 students, is the first team in BC and second Canadian team in this international competition's history to bring home the prestigious award. "Each year the Excellence Award is only given to one team who "strived not only in greatness in competition but also pursued overall excellence throughout the entire program," said Tony Norman, Co-Founder, President, and CEO of VEX Robotics.
The VEX Robotics World Championship, taking place this year in St. Louis, Missouri, gives students in grades 6 to 12 the opportunity to compete in a STEM-centered competition. Throughout the year, teams compete and refine their robots at events in their region to qualify for a coveted spot at the world championship. Team 9181C qualified in March for the event by earning Excellence at the B.C. Mainland Regional Championship. This year, Seaquam Robotics was also able to send one middle school team, 9181P. These two teams traveled to St. Louis and competed against more than 1,400 teams from 53 countries (2026 VEX Robotics World Championship in head to head matches, skills matches, and judging to determine who had the best robot.
"Worlds, as the kids call it, is unlike any other tournament. It's a science fair, sporting event, the olympics, and a technology convention all rolled into one thrilling four-day competition." says Mr. Lanz Singbeil, head coach for Seaquam Robotics and teacher at Seaquam Secondary.
"After joining the Robotics team, I learned to take robotics more seriously and also developed a better work ethic. That's when I realized just what I was capable of," said Brandon Woo, Lead Builder and Driver, Team 9181C.
VEX Robotics challenges middle school and high school teams to create a robot that can complete tasks and solve problems with the specifications and rules for the game changing every year. This year, the game was called "Push Back" and involved collecting and scoring "blocks" into "goals"
(https://www.vexrobotics.com/ ).
To find success, the work on each robotics team is divided among the students. They take on many different roles including driving, programming, building, designing, documentation and scouting. VEX not only challenges a team's teamwork but also their problem-solving, creativity, and project management skills. 9181C worked on this particular robot for two months but has been together for four years.
Seaquam Robotics has qualified teams for the VEX Robotics World Championship before, including 9181C, but no other awards earned are nearly as significant as this one.
Worlds Team
"Their first challenge in getting to worlds this year was that some members of the team could not attend due to IB exams. We thought that maybe we could not go at all until other students from our program stepped up and volunteered so that we could make it happen. The students in 9181C, both from the original and the worlds team, are the most hard working and passionate people I have ever had the pleasure to teach. This award is the culmination of years of dedication and hundreds of hours of work," said Mr. Singbeil.
Please join us in celebrating the 9181C team in becoming the first in BC and second-ever Canadian team to win the VEX Robotics World Championship High School Excellence Award!
2026 Worlds Team:
Brandon Woo (Driver and Builder)
Jinay Patel (Programmer)
Ty Tran (Secondary Driver and Builder)
Jordan Lin (Scouting and Pit Crew)
Jerry Xu (Scouting and Pit Crew)
2025-2026 Regional Team (and past years):
Brandon Woo (Driver and Builder)
Jinay Patel (Progammer)
Alex Chen (Programmer)
Kartik Kapur (Design Documentation)
Mehtaab Makkar (Design Documentation)
This article appeared in the Delta Optimist on May 3, 2026
