Danbury Students Named Finalists at Robotics World Championship 2025

DANBURY, CT — Danbury High School's robotics team achieved unprecedented success at the 2025 VEX Robotics World Championships in Dallas, Texas this week, securing second place in the world's largest robotics competition.

The annual VEX World Championships represents the pinnacle event for competitive educational robotics, bringing together only the top 10% of teams who earn qualification through regional tournaments, state championships, and skills challenges. The competition features multiple divisions organized by age group and skill level, with participants designing, building, and programming robots to complete specific game challenges that change each season.

Erik Savoyski, a technology education teacher at Danbury High School, has been the driving force behind the Danbury Robotics program since its inception in 2010. Over the past 15 years, Savoyski has dedicated countless hours to mentoring students, securing resources, and building a program that has consistently performed at high levels in regional and national competitions. His commitment to hands-on STEM education has been instrumental in the team's growth and success.

Team 5150Z, known as "Mad Hatters - Zero Gravity," emerged as Division Champions before advancing to the final round of inter-division competition, where they claimed the title of World Championship Finalists. This marks the highest placement ever achieved by a Connecticut team in the competition's history.

The prestigious event, held from May 6-8, 2025, featured more than 800 elite teams from around the globe competing at the highest level of scholastic robotics.

Team 5150Z consists of six seniors: Izzah Nishad, Christopher Borges, Eric Guo, Jack Cambizaca, Cody Zhu, and Eva George. All team members have secured places at top engineering schools including Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Purdue, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the University of Connecticut.
The team's achievement follows their earlier victories as Tournament Champions and Robot Skills Champions at the Connecticut State Tournament held at Bridgeport's Total Mortgage Arena in February, and as Tournament Champions at the WAVE@WPI Signature Event.

Danbury High School sent three additional teams to the championships: 5150D (Mad Hatters - Delta), 5150E (Mad Hatters - Envy), and 5150J (Mad Hatters - Jackpot). Teams 5150D and 5150J also reached the elimination rounds.

The Danbury Robotics program, which began in 2010, has expanded to include seven teams total, with all achieving recognition at state and regional levels.

For more information about the VEX Robotics World Championship, visit https://recf.org/vex-robotics-world-championship/.