Daviess County High School students from the DCPS Engineering Academy competed this weekend at the VEX Robotics State Championship hosted by Apollo High School. The team, named DCHS Crimson, has the team number 74602A which uniquely identifies them in the worldwide competition. Crimson secured their spot with their individual skills score earned by a combination of driving and programming with a total of 246 points. Their combined score ranks them in the top 6% of the world securing them a coveted invitation to the World Championship. Students competed with and against the top 32 teams from across the state. The action-packed day pitted Crimson against last year’s World Champion, last year’s World Finalist, and a team that has off and on been ranked #1 in the world throughout the season.
This year’s 2022-2023 VEX Robotics Competition game, Spin Up, was created and presented by the Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation. The VEX Robotics World Championship, sponsored by the Northrop Grumman Foundation, will be held in Houston, Texas from April 25th –27th.
DCHS Crimson’s VEX Robotics Competition team is comprised of Jacob Fulcher, Samuel Fleming, and CarsonDecker. To prepare for the tournament, the group worked together to design, build, and program a robot that could quickly and efficiently solve specific challenges that come with playing Spin Up.
Each week, students apply what they’ve learned about STEM in the classroom to build these semi- autonomous machines. An equally important set of skills is learned through the competition -- communication, project management, time management, and teamwork.
Jonathan Leohr, the team’s head coach said, “As an Apollo Engineering teacher and head coach to my teams, I have an unusual situation in that I coach five Apollo teams and two Daviess County teams. As a teacher in the Engineering Academy which supports both schools, it just made sense to house both school’s teams in one place. This is now my 12th year of coaching robotics and I still vividly remember the dream of simply making it to the State Championship. This is the first year we have ever qualified for the World Championship, and we did it by just one point. It is truly a
marvelous accomplishment as we have to face off with some of the best in the world. This particular group has led the way not only in the construction and programming of their robot, but in their leadership skills. Clearly, their hard work has paid off.”
DCHS Crimson meets at Apollo High School after school five days a week every week and sometimes on Saturdays to accomplish their goals. They began work shortly after the game reveal at last year’s World Championship which was streamed live in May 2022. Students learn about electronics, programming, mechanical systems, animation, 3D
CAD, computer-aided machining, and materials fabrication.
Board of Education: Todd Anderson • James Morgan • Frank G. Riney III • Dr. Tom Payne • Dale Stewart
Daviess County Public Schools
Team captain Jacob Fulcher said, “Carson, Sam, and I all take a great amount of pride in our hard work which brought us this opportunity. We are all extremely fortunate to be able to participate in this program and I thank Mr. Leohr for all he’s done to support the program, our team, and all the students in the past."
Many of the team members plan to go on to college and major in robotics, computer programming, or an engineering- related field, utilizing the skills they acquired on our robotics team. Team Captain, Jacob Fulcher has already achieved a scholarship to attend Auburn University where he is planning to major in Mechanical Engineering.
The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation manages the VEX Robotics Competition, which thousands of schools participate in around the world each year. Dan Mantz, CEO of the REC Foundation, said, “As an experienced robotics mentor, I’ve seen firsthand the engineering skill and leadership expertise that students gain by participating in the VEX Robotics Competition. It’s an experience that will stay with them long after their school days
are over, offering a new appreciation for STEM and laying a strong foundation of critical problem-solving, communication, and teamwork skills that will serve them well throughout their lives.”
Head coach Jonathan Leohr said, “I won’t hide it. I may have welled up a little when I found out that after three years of being so close every year but not making it, this year, Jacob finally qualified. I couldn’t be prouder as his coach.”