In May, the Kent Denver Robotics team took second place at the 2021 VEX Robotics World Championships! Team 3946E—captains Connor Erickson '21 and Jack Hughes '22, along with Gavin Dhanda, Julian Dhanda, Landon Ellis, Henry Johnson and Ishan Tandon from the Class of 2022—competed in a live, remote tournament against high school teams from around the globe. Their second-place finish is the program's best-ever result at the world championships. In addition to placing second, team 3946E won the Think Award for their division—given to teams for having impressive and effective autonomous programming.
 
"Team 3946E made KDS Robotics history with their incredible performance at Worlds," raved Head Robotics Coach Alainey Hellman. "It was wonderful to see their hard work pay off on the international stage!"
 
Two Kent Denver Middle School teams also competed at Worlds. Team 3946R—Class of 2025’s Ethan Ayers, Renee Drayton, Kenley Ellis, Annabelle Francis and Paloma Spahr—achieved an impressive Championship Skills runs score of 132, in addition to the highest driving score in their division, placing 52nd overall for middle school. Team 3946N—Class of 2025’s Matthew Abrams, Ryan Boublik, Simon Cho, Vik Dandapani and Arjun Pathy—earned a Championship Skills runs score of 83, and also won the Build Award, given to teams that have a very well-crafted robot. Congratulations, Sun Devils!