PAHS Weather Capital Robotics team places second at recent competition | News
PUNXSUTAWNEY — When people think of “Punxsutawney,” most associate the town with everyone’s favorite groundhog, but the Punxsutawney Area High School’s robotics program is making a strong impression, too.
The Punxsutawney Area High School’s Weather Capital Robotics Program recently competed at Penn West California University of Pennsylvania against 64 other robotics teams from nearly 50 different school districts.
Punxsutawney’s bot, “Rider in Red,” placed second in the Grand Champion standings, a feat which has been achieved three times in the 16-year history of the program. The score was based on students’ arena performance as well as their documentation and interview performances. They also earned fourth-place recognition for “Best Engineered Robot.”
Punxsutawney team members included Becca Martin, Avary Powell, Megan Troutman, Jacob Defoor, Casein Barnoff, Ryen Hartzfeld, Joe Bowser, Kurtis Pavlosky, Kolston Gould, Miles Conrad, Riley Songer, Elijah Pequeen, Chase Smith and Riley Shrecengost.
Kevin Hughes, advisor to the program and veteran technology education teacher, said that this year every student was focused on placing in the top 10 at the final competition. While he acknowledges that the program has been in “growth-mode” since 2020, involvement is finally reaching pre-pandemic numbers.
“I love watching what these kids can do given the opportunity. Their ability to assess and troubleshoot under pressure is impressive,” Hughes said.
Punxsutawney will now move on to compete at a national-level competition at Robert Morris University on May 17-18.
