By: Barbara Meister

The Hephaestus Robotics Team, a 25-member high school team in the Santa Cruz COE X Academy Robotics Clubs, earned first place in the Ranger Class at the 2026 MATE Monterey Bay Regional ROV Competition on Saturday, April 25, securing a spot at the 2026 MATE ROV World Championship on June 25-27, 2026, in St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada. Berrybotics, a team of 18 students from Watsonville-area schools, earned third place, just behind San Jose’s Valley Christian School’s Warrior Tides.

MATE ROV challenges students to design, build, and pilot remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs, that can operate in cold, dynamic, and extreme environments, reflecting ocean and cryospheric conditions tied to the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and the Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences. Mission Tasks include image recognition to detect invasive green crabs, photogrammetry to model a cold water coral garden, and pressure sensors to measure the depth of an iceberg.

“We started with a lot of new members from eight different high schools across Santa Cruz County and had some serious learning to do — not only in engineering, but also in working cohesively as a team,” said Julia Tick, a junior at Pacific Collegiate school and the Chief Operating Officer of Hephaestus Robotics.

“My journey with the Berrybotics team finished with a great achievement,” said Kurihani Carbajal-Vega, a Watsonville High School senior heading to either UC Berkeley or Santa Clara to major in engineering. “I’m glad to have learned and grown so much on this team and to receive third place! This achievement demonstrated all the hard work and dedication the team put into the competition.”

The Santa Cruz COE X Academy Robotics Clubs are a partnership between the Santa Cruz County Office of Education and nonprofit X Academy. This parent-led nonprofit, started by Titan Tim Sylvester and his spouse Barbara Meister, also supports Pajaro Valley USD teams. Congrats to go to Aptos High School’s Kepler ROV for first place in the Ranger Class engineering communications category with mentoring from Tim Madsen.

In the MATE ROV program, students operate as mock companies, developing technical reports, engineering presentations, budgets, marketing displays, and working ROVs that are evaluated by professionals in science, engineering, education, and marine technology.

“Congratulations to the Hephaestus Robotics Team, Berrybotics, Aptos High, Watsonville High, and all of the students who represented our community in this rigorous engineering competition,” said Dr. Faris Sabbah, Santa Cruz County Superintendent of Schools. “Their success reflects ingenuity, hands-on learning, and teamwork, as well as our region’s strong partnerships that connect students to real-world opportunities in science and technology.”

“This program gives students a rare opportunity to take on real engineering challenges as part of a team, and the results speak for themselves,” said Tim Sylvester, co-founder of X Academy. “We’re super excited to be heading to Canada! And we’re counting on community donations to take as many students as possible regardless of ability to pay.”

Meet the team on Sunday May 3, at Hook and Line Restaurant who’s donating 10% of meal revenues to Academy. Donations are also appreciated at https://www.xacademy.org/donate

To learn more about the Santa Cruz COE X Academy Robotics Clubs, visit cs.santacruzcoe.org/robotics.

First Place - Hephaestus Robotics Team Members

Sarah Bost, Santa Cruz High

Daphne Bingham, Pacific Collegiate

Beatrice Campbell, Pacific Collegiate

Sophia Casaletto, Pacific Collegiate

Ian Chen, Pacific Collegiate

Ethan Chuan, Scotts Valley High

Rowan Delander, Sapphire School

Evan Gaylord, Pacific Collegiate

Isaac Guihaire, Santa Cruz High

Sam Imahara, Kirby School

Raul Lopez, Pajaro Valley High

Nathanael Marcus, Soquel High

Johnny Mattson, Santa Cruz High

Cristo Melchor, Soquel High

Aditya Menon, Pacific Collegiate

Nico Mora-Shulman, Pacific Collegiate

Carlos Ortiz-Lopez, Sequoia High

Oscar Pasotti-Schoenman, Santa Cruz High

Joaquin Payet, Santa Cruz High

Julia Saarnio, Notre Dame Belmont High School

Vikram Sathish, Pacific Collegiate

Julia Tick, Pacific Collegiate

Roy Wainshal, Santa Cruz High

Amber Williams, Pacific Collegiate

Elle Williams, Santa Cruz High

Third Place - Berrybotics Team Members

Alexander Ramirez, Diamond Tech Institute,

Anahí Jacobo, Aptos High

Annika Skrovan, Aptos High

Arlo Tatum, Aptos High

Biridiana Cruz, Watsonville High

Cain Hernandez, Aptos High

Enora Thach, Aptos High

Esmeralda Sostenes-Flores, Watsonville High

Heriberto Sostenes-Flores, Watsonville High

Joel Pastor, Watsonville High

Kai Williams, Pacific Collegiate

Kurihani Carbajal-Vega, Watsonville High

Lewis Roeder, Aptos High

Leyla Constanza, Soquel High

Manuel Mattila, Aptos High

Myles Newbold, Ocean Grove Charter

Orlando Cazales, Diamond Technology Institute

Samuel Olmstead, Aptos High

About the X AcademyThe X Academy is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing STEAM enrichment programs to students throughout Santa Cruz County. Founded by parents Tim Sylvester and Barbara Meister, the X Academy was inspired by the Math Circles operating in Silicon Valley. Since 2014, they’ve organized over 120 weekly Math Circles at Cabrillo College for more than 550 students from 62 different schools. The X Academy hosts Julia Robinson Math Festivals, the AMC 8 and Math Kangaroo competitions, and enabled 8 students to attend national math camps. When the pandemic shuttered classrooms, Tim and Barbara opened their garage door and backyard in 2021, to its first high school robotics team to compete in the MATE ROV underwater robotics competition. Since partnering with the Santa Cruz County Office of Education in 2023, X Academy’s dedicated team of volunteer mentors, has engaged over 200 students from 15 high schools in building underwater robotics. The Hephaestus Team won 3rd place in the MATE ROV World Championship two years in a row, and hopes to do even better at the 2026 world championship in June. Find out more about the X Academy at xacademy.org.

About the Santa Cruz County Office of Education

The Santa Cruz County Office of Education (Santa Cruz COE) is a public agency striving to lead an equitable and innovative education system for all Santa Cruz County students. Under the leadership of Santa Cruz County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Faris Sabbah, the Santa Cruz COE accomplishes this mission by convening education leaders to catalyze systemic change; providing support and oversight to 10 public school districts; and offering a range of arts, environmental education, child development, career and technical education, and instructional programs and services directly to students, from birth through age 24 and beyond. For more information, visit santacruzcoe.org.