This spring, a team of students from Bellingham Public Schools made their mark at the VEX Robotics World Championship in Dallas, competing against 800 teams from 50 countries, a milestone made possible by support from the Bellingham Public Schools Foundation.

With donor-funded travel support, these young engineers didn’t just attend; they stood out. Their robot was one of only seven in the world to complete the season’s toughest challenge: a mechanical climb requiring precision, creativity, and countless hours of design and testing.

From plastic parts and 3D-printed components to new tools and classroom kits, the team made full use of the resources provided through community donations.

“This robot would not be a thing without a lot of the funding,” one student explained. “We’ve used a lot of funding just to be able to get new parts for the whole classroom…everyone [was] able to have an equal opportunity to create.”

Behind the scenes were long evenings, dozens of redesigns, and a shared passion for pushing limits. The team reworked their robot’s climbing mechanism more than ten times to perfect the “angle and durability” needed for success on the world stage.

“This one, before Worlds—we’ve changed this one like at least ten times,” said a student, pointing to a critical part of the robot. “Just getting the perfect angle, the perfect durability.”

For many students, robotics has been more than a technical pursuit—it’s been a community. The team was made up of students from different grades, backgrounds, and friend groups, brought together through their shared passion for innovation.

“I would never have known these guys if we didn’t do [robotics],” one student reflected. “We probably would have never crossed paths.”

They worked side by side to build, test, and reimagine their designs—and found a space where they could challenge each other, learn from each other, and celebrate each other’s success.

Attending Worlds was an eye-opening experience for the team, many of whom had never traveled that far or seen robotics at that scale. They met teams from around the globe, observed college-level competitors in the VEXU division, and came away energized and inspired.