Thinking about it now still makes me want to cry a little - happy tears. Less than a year ago, I had posted, "Doing the unbelievable - our VEX team", introducing Milpitas Xtreme Robotics' first VEX Robotics team. Today I am writing about our two VEX teams, Teams 1669X and 1669Y, and about the trophy they won on October 6th, 2019 - the Inspire Award.
The first trophy our club has officially won since over a decade ago.
The older trophies still sit in K06, the place we have dubbed our "lab", and are all from 2002-2007. In the past, Milpitas Xtreme Robotics (also known as AI Robotics) did extremely well in competitions, and the clear geometric shapes on black bases remind us of that time. However, since 2007, we have attended very few competitions, and have not won at all. The club had been in disarray for a long time, as far as I have heard, and attended our first FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) competition in 2016-17. That year was my freshman year; I still recall vividly the cheering crowds in the San Jose Playspace, the heart-racing last-minute work we were doing, the feeling of being the only team without matching shirts or a tri-fold to present, and tying with another team for 8th place only to miss making it into semifinals due to a coin toss.
Now, our VEX X team (1669X, led by Eugene Ng, Chenghao Li, and Kathan Sheth) has brought home a trophy and made MXR history.
Thinking back on it, and seeing where we are today, I can't help smile with pride at how far our little club has gone.
Written by Chloe Wang (2018-2020 President)