When Thadeus Burton (Westerville Central High School) and Tejas Sinha (Olentangy Berlin High School) arrived at the SkillsUSA Ohio State Championships, they were prepared. The two seniors from the Engineering – Robotics, Automation, and Design (RAD) program had spent weeks testing their robot’s capabilities, troubleshooting potential problems, and learning how to navigate using first-person view (FPV) technology.
That preparation paid off. Despite a brief camera outage during the most crucial part of the competition, Burton and Sinha worked together seamlessly and secured 1st place in the Urban Search and Rescue category. Their winning robot was designed to complete a challenging obstacle course and retrieve an object using remote vision and communication.
They are now one of several teams from the Delaware Area Career Center (DACC) who will represent Ohio at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference, held July 23–27 in Atlanta, Georgia.
"One thing that really helped us was practicing ahead of time,” Thadeus shared. “A lot of teams had great robots, but they didn’t know how to control them. We made sure we understood how ours handled every type of terrain before the competition."
"We were confident in what we built,” Tejas added. “But hearing our names called for first place was still a surprise. It felt great to see all our hard work pay off."
DACC students who also earned state medals include:
Additive Manufacturing – 3rd Place
Collin Dalton (Westerville North) & Filip Podmaka (Olentangy Orange) – Engineering – Robotics, Automation, and Design
Audio Production – 3rd Place
Preston Garner (Olentangy Orange) & Michael Kromhout (Olentangy Liberty) – Digital Design
Collision Repair Technology – 2nd Place
Alexander Korotkin (Big Walnut) – Automotive Collision Technology
Esthetics – 3rd Place
Amiya Smith (Delaware Hayes) – Cosmetology
Robotics Automation & Technology – 3rd Place
Joel Hyer (Westerville Central) & Grady Nelson (Olentangy Berlin) – Engineering – Robotics, Automation, and Design
View a full album of photos here.
SkillsUSA is a national organization that supports students in career and technical education, offering opportunities to showcase their skills in areas like engineering, healthcare, cosmetology, and the skilled trades. The national competition will bring together thousands of top-performing students from across the country.