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MIHS VEX Robotics team wins prestigious state Design Award

Published 1:30 pm Tuesday, March 17, 2026

From left to right, Mercer Island High School’s Brian Kwon, Til Wyss, Harry Nguyen and Henry Xing with the Design Award from the V5RC Regional Championship. Photo courtesy of the Mercer Island School District

From left to right, Mercer Island High School’s Brian Kwon, Til Wyss, Harry Nguyen and Henry Xing with the Design Award from the V5RC Regional Championship. Photo courtesy of the Mercer Island School District

Special to the Reporter

VEX Robotics Team 98040C, the “Slippery Penguins,” made up of four Mercer Island High School students — Harry Nguyen (team captain and lead builder), Brian Kwon (lead coder), Henry Xing (lead notebooker) and Til Wyss (lead sponsorship) — won the Design Award at the 2026 Washington V5RC High School Regional Championship at Lake Washington High School, earning a qualification to VEX Worlds for the fourth consecutive year.

The Design Award is one of the most coveted honors in VEX competition, recognizing teams that best embody the engineering design process — from brainstorming and prototyping through testing, iteration and documentation — as evaluated by a panel of expert judges.

It rewards a season of hard work and dedication that included four awards — a Design Award at the Early Season WPRA Tournament in British Columbia, Canada; a Judges Award at Quantum’s Spooktacular Tournament in Redmond; a Tournament Champion Award at the Cross Border Challenge in Bellingham; and the State Championship Design Award — demonstrating high-level competition both on the field and off.

Qualifying out of Washington state — widely regarded as one of the most competitive VEX Robotics regions in the world — is a statement on the global stage in itself, and all the more impressive given that only 7% of high school VEX teams worldwide earn a spot at Worlds this season.

This year the Slippery Penguins head to St. Louis, Missouri, for the first time, after three previous trips to Dallas. The 2026 VEX Robotics World Championship takes place April 21–24 at America’s Center Convention Complex.

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