Cowley College Celebrates Another Successful Robotics Competition in Sumner County

Cowley College proudly hosted another successful Sumner County Robotics Competition at its Sumner Campus on April 23–24, 2025, welcoming enthusiastic student teams from across the region for two days of robotics innovation, creativity, and competition.

The Basic Competition, held on April 23, featured 28 teams from 9 schools, totaling 121 students. This non-coding event focused on accessibility and fun, giving students of all academic backgrounds the chance to explore robotics through team-based challenges. Activities ranged from drone knockdowns and maze navigation to robot mini golf and creative challenges like the “Make Van Gogh Happy” art station. Students also engaged in thrilling contests such as Sumo Dash, Battle Bots, and Sphero-based obstacle courses.

Basic Competition Results:

•  1st Place: Home School (HHC of SUCO)
•  2nd Place: Caldwell 1
• 3rd Place: Caldwell 3
• Duck Award: Eisenhower

On April 24, the Advanced Competition focused on coding and engineering, with 16 teams from 6 schools participating, involving 74 students. These students tested their programming and problem-solving skills through a variety of events including coding drones, programming Sphero robots through obstacle courses, and completing precise navigation tasks using block and text coding.

Advanced Competition Results:

•  1st Place: Harper
• 2nd Place: Haysville 2
• 3rd Place: Caldwell 2
• Duck Award: Clearwater 4

The Duck Award, a crowd favorite, challenged teams to decorate their robots using artistic creativity—then prove the decorations didn’t interfere with robot function. Robots had to perform a task while decked out in their best outfits, with the winning team’s robot even dancing to a song. Medals were awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place overall, but it was the whimsical, plastic duck trophy that captured the most excitement. Each year, a new humorous trophy will be introduced for this special category.

“This event allowed Cowley and our sponsors to bring the excitement of robotics to middle school students, featuring a non-coding event on Wednesday and a coding event on Thursday.,” said David Hays, Mathematics & Computer Science Instructor. “We are entering an age where AI and automation will replace many positions and impact many aspects of our careers at all levels. Those who do not embrace this new future will be at a significant disadvantage. Judging by the looks on the students' faces, we achieved our goal of getting them excited about technology — the critical first step.”

Cowley College extends its thanks to KanOkla, Galaxy Technologies, Prairieland Partners/John Deere, Waterwise Enterprises, Sumner-Cowley Electric Cooperative, and Harper Industries for their continued partnership and support, which make events like this possible and accessible for area students.

Hunter Ferguson | Integrated Communications Specialist
Cowley College
125 S. 2nd Street
Arkansas City, KS 67005
hunter.ferguson@cowley.edu