Tavares High students Trevor Totherow, Paul Halecki and Jayden Roque standing beneath a sign that reads VEX Robotics World Championship

TAVARES– Lake County Schools celebrated several robotics victories in the last few months, two of the highlighted ones included one team making it all the way to the semifinals of the World Championship and another school-sponsored team winning at the regional level.

The Ace Robotics team, which included Tavares High School students Logan Thomley and Jacob Sabelli, South Lake High School student Adam Westphal, and two students from outside of the district, competed in the semifinals of the VEX Worlds Championship in Dallas last week. 

Ace Robotics and The Spades, a team made up of Tavares High School students Trevor Totherow, Paul Halecki and Jayden Roque, both earned their spots at the VEX Worlds Championship by winning the North Florida Region Championship in February. Ace Robotics is a private team that travels to signature events across the country. The Spades is a school sponsored team, and was the first from Lake County Schools to win the Regional Championship in VEX’s 17-year history. 

During the three days of competition, both teams worked with teams from around the world forming alliances with partners from around the world – as far away as Vietnam – and building strategies and collaboration techniques. 

During qualification, The Spades had 6 wins and 4 losses and finished 39th in the Technology Division.