Our Very First ABFK Star of the Month: Lex Lo
What is ABFK Star of the Month:
ABFK Star of the Month is our newest feature where we handpick students who deserve the limelight. We choose the ABFK Star of the Month by recognizing individuals who have gone above and beyond. We look for those who have taken initiative, helped their community, grown personally, and have made impressive accomplishments. This month, we are very excited to kick off the program with our very first ABFK Star: Lex Lo.
Who is Lex Lo:
Lex grew up in San Diego and attended Helix Charter High School. His family moved from a war-ridden area, and upon coming to America pushed academics very heavily on Lex. When he was growing up he recalls having to work at school 7 days a week. Juggling learning his school’s curriculum, French, English, Chinese, and Sunday School, Lex would only have Saturdays to complete his homework for both language and elementary school. In High School, Lex picked up wrestling and completely fell in love with the sport and mentioned that it helped balance himself out. Lex graduated from Helix in 2021 and went on to attend UCSD, majoring in Electrical Engineering, and since then has been thriving.
What Makes Lex a Star:
Lex has always had a stellar work ethic on and off the field. One of Lex’s most recent accomplishments was his most recent Jiu-Jitsu Tournament. After his Freshman year, he felt he had lost touch with Jiu-Jitsu, and had fallen out of shape. In August of last year, Lex was introduced to Fightsports Club Temecula by a close friend. Despite the facility being an hour away from Lex, the atmosphere, coaches, and training partners made it all worthwhile for him.
He decided to start training again and noted that initially, it felt nearly impossible to juggle college projects, assignments, and tests while also attending regular practice sessions. He realized he realistically only had time to attend an extended training session on Saturdays, which would usually last about 3 hours.
Shortly after the start of training, Lex noticed there was a big tournament coming up very soon. With very little time to prepare, Lex knew he wouldn’t be able to make his weight class cut. He dedicated 4 weeks to training several hours per day in order to prepare himself for the upcoming matches at a heavier weight. Going into the arena, Lex felt he was drastically underprepared to fight in his new weight class. He said, “I felt I was in the wrong place because all the guys felt pretty big, but after the first few matches I felt I was in the right place.” He pushed the negative thoughts back of his mind, and to his surprise, he absolutely dominated the mats and won the whole championship!
Lex was sure to make it clear that his father was instrumental in his success in the tournament. Along with being Lex's biggest supporter, his father would pick him up from campus after work on Fridays and would drive the both of them an hour to Temecula to train by 10 AM on Saturday. Lex mentioned, "this allowed me to exert all my energy on the mat and still safely travel home afterward. My success within my past and recent competitions are all attributed to him."
Lex has also found his stride at UCSD. After a challenging start in his Freshman year, Lex has adapted and become very involved with the community while also staying on top of his academics. He recently revived the wrestling community at UCSD and is the head of the UCSD Wrestling Club, helping students new and old enjoy the sport.
He has also been active in several engineering classes where his team had to design a robot and have it compete against several other robots in the class. During the trial run his team’s robot was ranked dead last. In typical Lex Lo fashion, he and his team put their heads down and got to work. After logging 40 weeks working on their robot, when the final review came 2 weeks later, Lex’s team and their robot rose against the odds and placed second!