Meet this year’s World of Work interns from Western Academy of Beijing (WAB). Every year, instead of going to school, WAB students spend five days experiencing what it’s like to work in the real world. This week, we’ll meet the seven kids spending the week at True Run Media.
It was three hours before the tournament, and 10th grader Joel Enow’s robot was still in pieces. “We worked until 2 a.m. in the tournament hotel—just for it to fail anyway,” he recalls of one of the more dramatic robotics competitions of the many he has attended across China.
The Berlin-born Joel, a 10th grader at WAB who has also lived in Nigeria, Togo, and Senegal, is a veteran of ten VEX V5 tournaments, intense robotics battles where student-built machines clash in a test of speed, precision, and problem-solving. And if there’s one thing Joel’s learned, it’s this: no matter how much you prepare, something always goes wrong.
The Reality of Unfinished Robots
The nature of the competitions means robots are never quite ready when they need to be, and Joel and his team often enter competitions with barely functional bots, fixing mechanical issues on site during the short pre-match prep and continuing late into the night at the tournament host hotel.
“You get about three hours before the event to fix things,” he says. “Then you stay up until 1 or 2 a.m., trying to make it work.” But even after all that effort, it might still fall apart during the match.
Crashes, Chaos, and Quick Fixes
On the field, anything can happen. Robots crash into walls, opponents, and field elements—often causing severe damage.
“You’ll often bump into another robot, a wall, or a field element. This can seriously damage your robot,” Joel says.
And when something breaks, teams can’t always fix it. “You might not have the same tools and materials you do at school,” he explains. Spare parts help, but quick thinking helps more.
But the hardest part, Joel says, isn’t the building. It’s working with teams under pressure.
“You have to know when to help and step back,” Joel says. “If you interrupt someone mid-build, you might mess them up. But if you do nothing, that’s just as bad.”
Good teamwork means knowing when to speak, when to stay quiet, and when to let someone make—and learn from—a mistake.
Robots: The Real Takeaways
Robotics has shaped Joel’s curiosity—and his report card. “It’s boosted my creativity for engineering,” he admits, “but I’ve spent hours designing robots instead of studying.” His advice? “Balance is hard, but if you love it, you’ll make time.”
Images: Joel Enow
