Westchester Elementary School student Emery Kerksick (left), guides a robot during the Missouri State Vex Robotics V5 and IQ Competition earlier this year as Westchester students Evelyn Dauber and Harper Harris look on. | photo courtesy of the Kirkwood School District
Teams of students from Westchester Elementary School and North Kirkwood Middle School are preparing to compete in the Vex Robotics World Championships, currently being held at America’s Center in Downtown St. Louis through April 30.
The largest robotics competition in the world, the event brings together more than 2,000 teams from nearly every U.S. state and dozens of countries, showcasing innovation, teamwork and advanced technical skill in fast-paced matches as teams compete for the world champion title. The Kirkwood teams qualified for the event following victories at the Missouri State Championships last month in St. Charles.
Westchester Elementary Robotics Teams
Science and engineering teacher Jennifer Ono founded the Vex robotics program at Westchester Elementary in 2018, and coaches the teams there. The first year of the program, which meets once a week after school, 30 kids applied and participated. Last year, the program had 60 applicants vying to be on five teams of five students each.
“It’s not a club — we compete,” Ono said. “We’re not here for giggles.”
Westchester Elementary School student Boone Grimshaw at the controls during the Missouri State Vex Robotics V5 and IQ Competition earlier this year. Westchester students Emery Kerksick (left)and Monty Harris are at the ready to provide support. | photo courtesy of the Kirkwood School District
Two of the school’s five teams will compete in the world championship for the first time. Ono’s role as a coach is strictly supervisory as The Robotics Education and Competition Foundation, the body that governs the Vex championships, has strict rules stating that no adults can touch, program, design or build any of the robots, or the team will be disqualified.
Elementary-level teams compete in the same challenge throughout the season — a game of stacking and strategy called “Mix and Match.” The game entails collaboratively driving with another robot and team around a 6-foot by 8-foot “field.” The students code their robots to try to score as many points as possible in a 60-second match.
Emery Kerksick, an 11-year-old fifth grader at Westchester Elementary, has been competing in the program since third grade.
“I’ve always been kind of a math person. The math connected me to engineering,” Kerksick said of her early interest in robotics. “I thought it would be challenging, but fun at the same time.”
Now, she helps introduce some of the younger students to robotics at school, and envisions herself someday having a career in a STEM field like engineering. Having an opportunity to compete at the global level is an experience she is very much looking forward to.
“I’m interested in what I’m going to learn because I am probably never going to go to Asia and meet half of these teams, so I’m just going to try to ask as many questions as I can,” Kersick said.
From left: North Kirkwood Middle School students Alistair Kim, Alvin Yu and Lincoln Hamlin pause a photo during competition earlier this year. Three North Kirkwood Middle School teams made the world championships this year — the most from any school in Missouri. The teams are coached by teacher James Cibulka. | photo courtesy of the Kirkwood School District
North Kirkwood Middle School Robotics Teams
The teams at North Kirkwood Middle School, meanwhile, participate in a higher-level competition called V5, building on the skills they learned in elementary school to create and code more complex robots with greater functionality in a faster-paced game.
Three North Kirkwood Middle School teams made the world championships in 2026 — the most from any other school in Missouri.
Team member Andrew Filla, a 13-year-old eighth grader, started competing in fifth grade at Westchester Elementary. This will be his first time competing in the world championships.
“I’m so excited for it because we have to put so much effort into building these robots and coding them,” Filla said. “Last year, we went to the state championship, but we didn’t quite get as far as we wanted. This year, we really tried to put in a lot of effort, and I’m super glad that it paid off as much as it did.”
Filla hopes to someday become an engineer, using the skills and lessons he’s honed on the robotics team as a solid foundation. For now, he’s looking forward to meeting and being around other students from around the world who are united by a love of robotics.
Robotics team coach James Cibulka, who teaches seventh and eighth grade science and coding at North Kirkwood Middle School, is also excited to accompany the team to the world championships for the first time since he took over coaching four years ago.
“I see the glow on the students’ faces,” Cibulka said. “They get stressed out, but a lot of times, once they’re at the events and the competitions, it’s a good stress. It’s like going up to the plate and being the batter and the ball’s being thrown. There’s a stress level there, but it’s exciting.”
Beyond the engineering experience robotics provides, Cibulka believes students are gaining additional skills that will serve them well into adult life.
“Probably one (skill) they don’t even realize they’re getting is interpersonal skills. There is an interpersonal aspect because they have to team up with other robots,” he said.
“The one that is easiest to see is simply problem solving and the role of iteration,” Cibulka continued. “They can push themselves beyond where they were through teamwork, effort, research and creativity. They get some success, and they learn from it. They get a lot of failures, and they learn from those, too. Then they go back and they don’t stop. They make it better.”
