Woodland Hills approves IQ Pandas trip to VEX Worlds after student teams win state awards

The Woodland Hills School District Board on March 12 voted 9-0 to approve travel and fundraising for the elementary VEX IQ team 15104b, the IQ Pandas, to attend the 2025 VEX IQ World Championship in Dallas, Texas.

The motion, introduced during the curriculum section, cleared the board after Dr. Wilson asked members to approve the trip and allow the team to begin fundraising. Karen Lyons seconded the motion; the board clerk recorded the vote as "Motion passes 9 to 0." The board also heard multi-team presentations from coaches and students describing recent competition results that led to the invitation.

The approval followed extended presentations from coach Tina Dietrich and several student representatives who described awards and season highlights. The board heard that Woodland Hills teams earned multiple state-level awards, including an Excellence Award and Team Champion honors that qualified teams for higher-level competition. "I would like to start off today by saying that I was accepted into Johns Hopkins University. And it it was on a full ride scholarship," student representative Zach told the board during the opening report. Students from teams identified as Hardwired (15104c), the Pretty Pink Princesses, the Robotic Turtles (15104a) and the IQ Pandas (15104b) described awards for design, durability, sportsmanship and innovation.

Jason McKenna, who worked with the teams this season, told the board VEX recognition is rare: "If you do the math on that, that means less than 2% of teams worldwide get an excellence award." Emmett Brubaker, speaking for the IQ Pandas, described the Excellence Award as recognition for both an engineering notebook and competition performance: "This award is presented to a team that exemplifies a high quality competitive robotics program."

Board members and staff also noted practical next steps. Dr. Wilson said district policy requires board approval before teams can formally fundraise; staff reported Tina Dietrich and IT staff had already set up a fundraising link and two donors had pledged $500 each pending approval. District staff will oversee the fundraising under board policy revisions in progress.

The board did not vote on other trip requests discussed later on the agenda; those were announced as items that will return for separate approval.

Woodland Hills coaches and students described VEX Worlds as a larger international event: presenters said Worlds typically draws teams from more than 70 countries and tens of thousands of students, and they framed the trip as an educational experience tied to classroom engineering and notebook work. Several speakers thanked board members and district staff for long-term classroom support that, they said, helped students produce the engineering notebooks and interviews judges expect at competitions.