[MUSIC] Award show.

>> Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 2026 Stlp State Championship.

What do you have to say about that?

[APPLAUSE] Is that awesome?

Welcome.

I love we're here.

We're going all in to celebrate you and all the amazing things you're doing with education, technology, how you're learning about those academic standards for technology, but most importantly, how you're using technology to make your school, your community and your classroom better for everybody else.

So congratulations on getting here.

We've got a lot to cover tonight, and I don't want to waste any time at all.

I want to introduce our very first speaker, a very, very special person who every time you're at school and you open up one of those Chromebooks and you get on the internet, this is the guy you have to thank.

A lot of folks know him as the associate Commissioner for education for education, Mr.

David Couch.

A lot of folks also just know him as Mrs.

Couch's son.

Please give Mr.

Couch a big welcome.

[APPLAUSE] >> Welcome to Rupp Arena.

[APPLAUSE] You are so important to Kentucky's future that the Kentucky Department of Education's Office of Education Technology rented out Rupp Arena and the Lexington Central Bank center just for you.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] If you're not aware of this, no other single day event uses more square footage of the central Bank Center Rupp Arena each year than the Stlp state championship.

Stlp rocks.

[APPLAUSE] Over 20,000 people were here today.

That includes all the students and the adults that play such an important role the Stlp coaches, the teachers, your school leaders and staff.

Of all the volunteers that we have here, the judges and the parents and the family and the general public there were close to.

When you start out the school year in this competition, there were close to 5000 individual and team entries.

Thanks to you all for being part of it.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] The Kentucky Boys and Girls State High School baseball basketball tournament occurs here every year and just happened a couple of weeks ago, the Stlp state championship and you all are just as important.

So we hold that state championship for you.

All right.

Here to emphasize that.

[APPLAUSE] Since 1992 and the birth of the Kentucky Education technology system, we have been the pioneer and national leader in most aspects of educational technology.

For example, Kentucky was the first state to have internet to every school.

In 1995.

We have close to 60,000 students that are part of Stlp.

There is no other state in America with more student participation or does still better than the state of Kentucky.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] This is our 32nd year of Stlp and the 20th year of our Stlp State Championship, and I've been very fortunate to be part of all of them.

So I ask all of you, and I just like to raise the hands, how many of you.

This is your very first time in Lexington, Kentucky.

Raise your hand.

How many is the first time in Rupp Arena?

Raise your hands.

And how many of you is this the very first time you've been here in Rupp Arena, part of Stlp?

Raise your hands now.

That's a lot of you.

[APPLAUSE] That's a lot of you.

[APPLAUSE] Our hope in starting this back in the 1990s is to this event that you can see your thoughts and your ideas, and your projects and skills are just as good as anybody else in any other part of the state.

And the other part of the nation.

You're learning leadership skills, team building, presentation skills.

A lot of your projects are help your fellow students and teachers and community.

All those are great skills to be gained.

Hopefully.

Also, you've gained the skill to get to know each other a little bit better from other schools across the state.

And your attendance here.

For example, we have 12 stlp engineers and ambassadors that come from all parts of our state.

You'll meet them here in a little bit.

These students represent the best of our best, and they worked hard together to make today a good experience for all of you.

The other cool thing for me is all the Sdlp alumni that I get to run into throughout my life is you'll see this symbol no matter where they're at, and they'll say, I was part of Sdlp, and there's also part of them that says the career path I chose in life was because of Sdlp.

So I want to thank all the Sdlp alumni, but also I want to thank and I know Jeff appreciates this.

All the volunteers that helped make this magic happen.

In the Office of Education Technology, we have two people.

We count on all these adults and give them a round of applause for helping make this happen.

[APPLAUSE] So today we're going to recognize a lot more of our individual and team winners.

I got to see a lot of those at 1:00 today.

Once again, we started out with 5000 of those, but we're going to go through.

I'm going to talk a little bit about how our project championship works.

We started out this year with over 1200 projects.

And so toward the end of this event, we're going to identify our level three finalists.

And then we're going to identify all of those 1200 projects are terrific top 20, which is quite an achievement.

And then we're going to identify our Elite eight in the state of Kentucky.

And then I will identify the Final Four.

And the Final Four will be the K-12 champion, the six through eight champion, the nine through 12 champion and our best overall technology project in the state of Kentucky.

The Office of Education Technology will pay for these four project teams, state champions to attend and represent our state and our.

Orlando, Florida, starting on the 28th of June to the to the 1st of July at the International Society for Technology Education Conference.

And I want to remind all of our our participants, if you win the state of Kentucky, not only are one of the best in Kentucky, you're one of the best in this nation.

So I say to you in closing, enjoy the moment as you hear your name and school announced and showing up on the big screen.

Congratulations to all for making it to and competing in Stlp State championship.

[APPLAUSE] Are you ready for this?

Are you ready for this?

Let's go.

>> Oh my goodness.

Oh my goodness.

I love the energy.

Keep it up.

We got a lot.

We're going to celebrate today.

So thank you for being here.

Let's talk real quick.

So for the folks that are back at home, we kind of covered this already.

But for the folks back home, let me explain what we're about to do.

We are going to occasionally say things like, oh, in this case, you know, 2025 project state champs head to the back.

So what that means for everybody, if you're watching at home, what that means is we're having the folks come out of the audience and head back so that we can get them lined up to come on to the stage.

So, for example, right now, I would like to say if the AI on demand challenge Certa palooza and data for action finalists could make their way down to the ramp side of the stage, we're going to get you lined up to come up on stage to be rewarded and find out whether you were in first place or whether you were in second place.

But right now, we're pumped because we get to welcome to the stage to celebrate one last time.

Our state champions from 2025.

So let's bring them on up.

[APPLAUSE] Awesome.

Good to see you guys.

[APPLAUSE] So we had four state champions last year, and we have had several of those folks have moved on to other schools.

Several have graduated.

But we still want to take this time to celebrate them one last time as they close out their reign as the 2025 state champions.

Let's say.

A big congratulations to the folks here from the best K through five project at Summit Elementary.

Mystery history was the name of their project.

Great job guys.

Great job.

And then of course, we also had our six through eight project Girls in Flight from Cameron Middle School from Jefferson County.

Awesome job.

Our nine through 12 group was the paw print from Fairdale High School in Jefferson County, and our best technical project for the state of Kentucky was Project Lockdown from Russell High School and Russell Independence.

Let's just give them one last round of applause.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC] And now we're going to bring up to the stage.

I know you've seen them all over the place.

I know that you've you've seen them with their capes.

What we have, if you are in Stlp and you're looking forward to doing something amazing, this is what you want to do.

When you're in high school.

You want to apply to be an stlp engineer ambassador, because these folks are the top of the top when it comes to Stlp.

They represent the best parts of Stlp.

And today they have been working hard since some of you were probably still in bed to get today, operating and running behind the scenes.

They are the magic that make it happen.

And I want to welcome to the stage their mentor, my friend Mr.

Jim Seward, who leads the Stlp engineers.

Jim.

[APPLAUSE] >> So as you guys can see, they are superheroes.

So I want you to be a superhero one day.

Like Mr.

Cybulski said, this is what you want to strive to be.

So as my superheroes, I have asked them to give their capes away to a future engineer ambassador.

So after the awards that we will be behind the stage, feel free to approach them and ask them if they will give their cape to you.

Sound like a plan?

[APPLAUSE] So the important part of Stlp to me is the ell.

Who could tell me what the ell is?

[APPLAUSE] Leadership.

These are future leaders just like you guys are going to be, so I'm going to let them introduce themselves to you instead of me doing it.

All right.

Bragan.

This is Bragan Slote.

She is my all time leader.

She is a third year engineer ambassador.

She graduates this year.

So I'm going to hand it over to Bragan.

>> Hi everybody.

My name is Bragan Slow and I'm from Webster County High School.

I'm a senior this year and like Jim said, I'm a third year ambassador and I'm going to Western Kentucky University in the fall.

[APPLAUSE] And I'm gonna announce two of our other ambassadors that are also from Webster County this year.

Alyssa Cartwright is a junior.

[APPLAUSE] And Cameron Edens is a junior.

[APPLAUSE] And now I'm going to introduce Kylie Cassell.

[APPLAUSE] Hello, everyone.

My name is Kylie Castle.

I'm a senior at Johnson Central High School.

Go Eagles.

I'm going to be graduating and going to the University of Kentucky in the fall.

And this is my second year as an ambassador.

And then I have my teammate, Harrison Trosper.

He's a junior at Knox Central High School.

[APPLAUSE] [MUSIC] Next up we have Grayson.

>> Hello, everybody.

My name is Grayson Cox.

I'm a senior this year.

This is my second year as an ambassador for Stlp.

I'm from South Warren High School, and I will be going to the University of Louisville in the fall.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] Now, I have the great honor to introduce you guys to two more of our ambassadors.

First up, we have Natalia Garza.

She is in 10th grade and she is from Assumption High School.

[APPLAUSE] The next one is Ty Rhodes.

He's from Campbellsville High School and he's in the 11th grade.

[APPLAUSE] And finally, let me pass the mic off to Mia.

>> Hi, I'm Mia and I'm from Floyd Central High School.

I'm a two year ambassador.

I'm a senior, and I plan to go to Alice Lloyd College in the fall.

And next on my team is Elayna Morris.

She's also a senior at Floyd Central High School, and this is her first year as an ambassador.

She plans to go to Southeastern Beauty Academy.

And next up is Adelaide.

[APPLAUSE] Hello.

>> I'm Adelaide Dennis and I'm a senior at Eminence High School.

I'm a second year ambassador and I will be attending the University of Louisville this fall.

My teammate is Livy Fugett, a senior at Knox Central High School.

This is her first year as an ambassador, and she is planning to attend the Hazard Community and Technical College next year.

Thank you.

>> All right.

I need you guys to do me a favor.

Make some noise for these superheroes.

>> Thank you guys.

This too.

Could be you.

Keep that in mind as you're heading up through the ranks.

Getting older.

Once you get to high school, you can apply to also be an engineer ambassador.

We would love to have that.

Okay.

Right now we're going to send to the back.

And remember, by sending to the back, we want you to come down and go that way around to the back of the stage.

If you could, we could send back the Attendance Matters poster and the Attendance Matters video finalists, as well as the middle school and high school Drone Challenge finalists and our Game Design Challenge finalists.

If you could head around to the back, that would be spectacular.

Now, the engineers are not the only groups of students who help run our show here.

We also have our KY go play innovators and to.

We would love to have you think about this.

So if you got back, did you go over to the second floor on the other side of the arena where we had the colorful curtains and there was a makerspace, and they were making buttons, and they were doing all sorts of great things.

That too could be you.

You could be over there helping us make that happen.

So we want to thank our KY go play innovator team.

And especially we want to thank our leads, miss.

Yeah, absolutely.

Come on up.

We want to thank our leads, Miss Heidi Neltner from Fort Thomas Independent, and Mr.

James Allen, who also gets to work with us as a teammate at the Kentucky Department of Education.

But please congratulate Whitley H. Floyd from Central High School.

Excuse me, Whitney H. From Floyd Central High School.

My bad.

Haley W from Eminence Middle School.

Claire R from Eminence High School.

[APPLAUSE] Casey from Casey, R from Eminence Middle School.

Adrianna V from Floyd Central High School and Lindsey M from Eminence High School.

Thank you to our KY.

Go play innovators.

Great job today, guys.

We appreciate you.

[APPLAUSE] Okay.

Thank you.

You can step off the stage.

And now we're going to talk about our block code crew.

How many of you visited Robot World behind these curtains back here today?

Let me hear you.

I can't see you.

Great.

Let me hear you.

Get to the robot world.

[APPLAUSE] Awesome stuff.

Tons of great things to do.

And did you realize every single one of those little areas was built by hand?

How cool was that?

That took a lot of work, but we also had some folks down there helping out with our code crew.

And so we want to recognize our block code crew who came down.

Nope.

Okay.

And we've got so we want to thank Nate R from Hebron Middle School, and Bentley Allen, also from Hebron Middle School, for being on our block code crew today.

Thank you to them for joining us.

[APPLAUSE] And now we have a few more folks that we want to get lined up.

If we could have our cast board members head around to the side of the stage, our finalists in the Georgetown College Robotics Competition head around, and our Girls Who Code Challenge and our help Desk Support Challenge.

All you folks can make your way down and head right around to the side of the stage.

We'll keep on rocking and rolling.

Now there's so many things to do when you come to the state championship.

There's things to do when you're here that you don't even have to be competing.

You can come here today and you can explore so many things with so many great folks.

We want to say a giant thank you to all the folks who helped out with the Stlp area.

But let me ask you first, how many of you have ribbons?

How many of you got ribbons today?

Hold up your ribbons.

Awesome.

Let me hear you.

If you got the Stlp awesome ribbon.

[APPLAUSE] What that means is that those folks that got the Stlp awesome ribbon, that means they made their way through all of the stations that were headed up by our volunteers and friends, and they did an activity where they proved that they understood whether they were digital citizens or knowledge constructors, and they did the activity, and they earned a ribbon hoping to get all seven so they could get their Stlp awesome badge.

Congratulations to each of you who did that.

We have to give a massive thank you to Mr.

Mark Harmon from Ashland Independent, who helped lead that today.

Let's give him a big round of applause.

[APPLAUSE] And we also want to thank.

[APPLAUSE] All the folks who helped put that on up there today.

Miss Rogers and the the man of the hour on the microphone, Mr.

Chuck Austin, give them all a big round of applause.

Thank you for that today.

[APPLAUSE] And thank you to all the digital learning coaches and all the volunteers and parents who also volunteered up there.

Thank you for making Stlp be awesome.

We're going to make it bigger and better every year, so we can't wait to see what's going to happen next year.

Okay, now it comes time for our first challenge award.

Rock and roll.

Our challenges.

As you know, today we you could sign up in advance.

And there were some also multi-stage challenges that started back in December where you submitted something and then got advanced to come today, those challenges, there was about 30 of them happening all throughout central Bank center and those different rooms.

And now we are going to honor and celebrate our state champions in all of those categories for our first one happened right here on the stage.

It started kicked off right at 10:00.

Is the AI on demand challenge.

So let's bring our AI on demand champions up here on stage.

Come on up.

[MUSIC] [APPLAUSE] Absolutely.

[APPLAUSE] We have to give special thanks to Miss Kelly Fisher, who's a digital learning coach in Fayette County, and the entire Fayette County technology team who came today to help out in different areas, but particularly leading the AI on demand challenge.

Here we go.

We'll start with second place in second place for the K through five division.

Harper S from Athens Elementary in Fayette County.

[APPLAUSE] Second place in the sixth through eight category goes to Emma F from South Warren Middle School, Warren County.

And second place nine through 12 Division goes to Addley Tapp from Webster County High School in Webster County.

[APPLAUSE] Now for our first place.

And by the way, feel free to take a step forward when I call your name first place K through five division goes to Evelyn W from Old Mill Elementary School in Bullitt County.

[APPLAUSE] First place in the sixth through eighth Division goes to Liam K from Hebron Middle School in Bullitt County.

[APPLAUSE] And then first place for the nine through 12 Division goes to Jacob T from Warren Central High School.

[APPLAUSE] Congratulations.

Great job to our AI On Demand challenge, folks.

Great work guys.

Thank you.

And now coming up onto the stage, I want to welcome a friend of mine, Mr.

Doctor Shawn Jackson, who helped with our Serta Palooza challenge.

And he's going to give you our champions.

>> Thank you.

Jeff.

We'd like to recognize and thank Certiport for their dedication in running this challenge, donating these valuable industry certification exams to Stlp every year and being dedicated here.

First, we'd like to recognize the second place school.

The second place school had the second highest number of certifications attempted today, and that award went to Gateway Academy to Innovation and Technology in Christian County.

[APPLAUSE] Our first place school with the highest number of certifications attempted today is Estill County High School in Estill County, Kentucky.

[APPLAUSE] Now for some individual awards.

The individual with the highest score on the IC3 Digital Literacy exam today is Mason Clowers from Estill County, a C in Estill County, Kentucky.

[APPLAUSE] The highest score on the Cisco networking exam is Isaac Stewart from Gateway Academy in Christian County.

[APPLAUSE] [MUSIC] And finally, the highest score on the Information Technology Specialist exam is Caleb Fears, also from Gateway Academy in Christian County.

Thank you all for attending industry certifications in this valuable challenge here at Stlp.

>> Awesome.

Great job.

Let's keep it rolling and let's bring up our data for action.

I want to go ahead and offer these awards out and say a big thank you to Miss DeeDee Conner and her team at KDE for leading our data for Action Challenge.

And we are really happy to announce both of our first place winners.

If you could please, if the team from Brown Middle from J. Graham Brown School in Jefferson County is our first place six through eight team.

[APPLAUSE] And then our first place nine through 12 team goes to Zora Armor and Lana Shoemaker from Pathfinder School of Innovation in Jefferson County.

Great job.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] Very nice.

Great job.

Congratulations.

Data for action Group.

Now we have a very exciting new category this year that we're excited to share with you.

This is our oh that's right, I apologize.

I got ahead of myself Serta palooza.

We forgot.

We also need to send to back.

Thank you.

The KC seven Cybersecurity Challenge finalists, the the Kentucky Cinemania video category finalist.

Our Lego education, and our racing to the future finalists.

If you could head back to the back of the award show now.

For attendance matters.

Yep.

Awesome.

And now we're going to welcome up to the stage.

This is a brand new category, and I'm going to turn it over to my friend, Miss Ashley Gates to explain to you what this category is all about, and to welcome our winners.

>> Thank you.

>> What's up?

Stlp nation.

[APPLAUSE] That's all you got?

Let me try that one more time.

One more time.

What's up?

Stlp nation?

[APPLAUSE] Do we need one more of those?

Are we good?

All right.

Last one, last one.

Hello.

S t lp nation.

[APPLAUSE] Y'all.

What an honor.

What a moment to be on this stage, especially at Rupp Arena.

Okay, I've never been here like this before, but especially with Stlp, because when we talk about that, we're not just talking about competitions challenges.

We're talking about what vibrant, meaningful learning looks like, right?

Especially when you, the students, are leading that way.

For us, this is what it looks like when students are engaged, connected, and creating something that you believe matters, right?

So it's an honor to be here.

For those that don't know who I am, my name is Doctor Ashley Gates.

I work for the Department of Education in the Division of Student Success, and our team launched an amazing Attendance Matters campaign last year and this year.

And after 26 million views of our videos and some of our billboards, we decided to create this challenge.

Right?

You all heard that earlier.

And so these it's a first year.

These are our contest winners of our You Belong Kentucky Attendance Matters poster and video track for elementary, middle and high school.

And I have the honor of introducing them today.

Our second place winner for the You Belong poster was Louisa East Elementary.

[APPLAUSE] Our second place You Belong poster for middle school was Woodford County Middle School.

[APPLAUSE] Second place for You belong poster.

High school category was Harrison County High School.

Can we get a big round of applause for that, please?

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] All right.

Now, first place for you belong.

Coast poster elementary track was Phelps Elementary.

Give us a big round of applause.

Phelps elementary.

Our first place in middle school was Harrison County Middle School.

[APPLAUSE] And first place for our high school poster was Lawrence County High School.

[APPLAUSE] All right, let's give another round of applause for our poster winners, please.

[APPLAUSE] All right.

[APPLAUSE] We're now welcoming our video category to the stage.

[APPLAUSE] Y'all can still clap for him if you want.

That's fine.

We can keep it going.

You know what I'm saying?

Like.

[APPLAUSE] Don't y'all like to come out to applause?

Right.

Let's go, let's go.

Come on.

Let's get it up a little bit.

I know we're tired.

[APPLAUSE] We're never too tired for stlp.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] Y'all.

They roll deep up here.

Y'all seeing this, we're gonna have to crisscross applesauce on the stage.

You know what I'm saying?

Is everybody having a great time tonight?

[APPLAUSE] Yeah.

Wow, y'all, I just want to also brag for a minute.

This was a first year contest, so if you weren't able to tap in this year, look out for it next year.

All right, all right.

We got everybody.

All right.

This is our video track.

Okay.

Second place elementary track for our video went to Hopkins Elementary.

[APPLAUSE] Second place in our middle school video category.

Went to Browning Springs Middle School.

[APPLAUSE] Second place in high school category was Trimble County Junior Senior High School.

[APPLAUSE] And now our first place winners, first place elementary video Cold Hill Elementary.

[APPLAUSE] Okay, okay.

I'm feeling that settle just a little bit, a little bit.

Just okay.

All right.

First place middle school, North middle school.

[APPLAUSE] And finally, first place for our high school video track.

Went to Pineville High School.

[APPLAUSE] Let's hear just another round of applause for our award winners as they exit the stage.

Thank you.

[APPLAUSE] We'll see you all next year.

>> Great job.

>> Great job.

[APPLAUSE] Also, thank you to Doctor Robbie Fletcher, Commissioner of Education, for joining us this evening on the stage real quick.

And I'm going to slide this one in.

If you were a cast scholarship award winner, we need you to come on down right now so we can get you up on stage.

We're going to announce that here just shortly.

So if you were a and the Stlp scholarship.

Okay.

So if you're one of those scholarship winners, please come on down so we can get you hooked up.

All right.

All right, all right, all right.

We are up to the drone challenges.

So let's welcome up to the stage the winners we have with us right now.

This is middle school.

Oh, these are our middle school drone challenge champions.

[APPLAUSE] If we could welcome say congratulations to our second place middle school Cub run drone team from Cub Run Elementary in Hart County.

[APPLAUSE] And then first place in the middle school division is SHS sky bears from Sacred Heart Middle School.

Give them a big round of applause.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] And now I'm going to hand it over to the high school drone challenge lead, Miss Turley.

Miss Turley, welcome.

>> Thank you.

So first off, I would like to say that this year's competition was lots of fun.

We have new winners this year.

We had had a group, they were the Flying Eagles that had been with us for two years.

So it was great to see us kind of advancing into some new winners this year.

All right.

So these guys have been fabulous in driving driving their drones.

But these students aren't just great pilots.

They're also pioneers for an industry that is exploding right now, from commercial mapping to search and rescue, the skills they are building here are directing and paving the way for an exciting future careers for them.

So let's give them a huge round of applause for these future industry leaders.

[APPLAUSE] Our winners today, our second place winners were from Warren Central High School, and I have told them if I mess up their names to please correct me.

So our two second place winners were Muzzammil, Rasuli and Samuella Zadran.

Guys, take a step forward so they can know who you are.

[APPLAUSE] Our first place winners were from Floyd County School of Innovation and their team name was Phoenix.

We have Blake Bartram and we have Slade Hamilton.

Please give them a warm round of applause.

>> Congratulations to our drone challenge winners at middle school and high school level.

We're going to keep the show rolling right along.

If we could please send to the back.

Now, if you were one of our RC Robo Challenge Extreme finalists, head on back, robot, cross out the robot Royal line.

Follow challenge and our new Shoutcasting challenge.

If you were any of those groups, please head on to the back and we're going to keep on rolling.

Right now I want to introduce the lead of the Game Design Challenge, Mr.

Keith Barnes from Bullitt County Schools and turn it over to him.

>> Thank you Jeff.

This is a great year we had.

This is probably the most we've had probably like 48 teams this year.

So a lot of game designing going on.

[APPLAUSE] All right.

So for game design the middle school division, second place, Jessamine County Middle School.

[APPLAUSE] Second place in the high school division.

Floyd County School of Intervention.

First place in the middle school Potterville elementary.

All right.

A few people here from Pikeville.

[APPLAUSE] And in first place is Anderson County High School, and they weren't able to stay.

Thank you very much.

[APPLAUSE] Let's give a round of applause to everybody.

>> All right.

Next, we have a very special presentation from our close friends and allies from the cast organization as they give out some scholarships.

So keep this in mind, guys.

When you get up to the high school level, there's all kinds of scholarships going on out there and we'd love for you to apply.

So let me just turn it over to them.

Excuse me.

>> Good evening.

I'm Amanda Ball.

CIO for.

>> Eastern State Independent School and the outreach officer for cast, the Kentucky Association for School Technology.

Each year cast is proud to recognize Stlp high school seniors with scholarships to support their next chapters.

Tonight, the Cast board is honored to present for $1,000 scholarships to outstanding Stlp seniors.

[APPLAUSE] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [APPLAUSE] Our first award is the Gary and Becky Grant scholarship, and it goes to Alaina Morris from Floyd Central High School in Floyd County.

[APPLAUSE] Throughout her remarkable nine years in Stlp, Alaina has touched every corner of the program.

A four time state championship qualifier, she recently achieved her long held goal of becoming an Stlp engineer and ambassador.

Alaina has earned numerous accolades, including a first place state championship in live events.

Perhaps her most moving work was a first place, state winning photo essay documenting her mother's journey through breast cancer.

This project honored her mother's resilience while educating others on the challenges of the disease.

Alaina credits Stlp with teaching her that communication is her most vital skill, a tool she already uses in her two part time jobs.

We are incredibly proud of her and know she will step confidently into her future.

Congratulations, Elena.

[APPLAUSE] Next is the Elaine Harrison Lane Scholarship Award that is awarded to Lara Hall, also from Floyd Central High School.

[APPLAUSE] In her seven years with Stlp, Lara has proven has proven to be an exceptional leader, culminating in four consecutive state championships in the Sphero Hero Saves the Day competition through high pressure coding challenges.

Lara discovered that true leadership isn't about being in charge, it's about serving her team and guiding others toward a solution.

She has spent her time mentoring younger students and fostering a culture of collaboration.

She leaves Sdlp knowing that perseverance and teamwork go hand in hand.

We look forward to seeing her take on new leadership roles in college.

Congratulations, Lara.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] Our third award is the Mary Grace Yeager Scholarship, and it goes to Mia Queen Gillham from Floyd Central High School.

[APPLAUSE] Over seven years in Stlp, Mia has achieved incredible success, including four consecutive state titles for Sphero Hero and serving two years as an Stlp engineer.

From coding to public speaking, Mia has developed the confidence to train rooms full of teachers and present to large crowds.

She has learned to embrace mistakes as opportunities for growth, a mindset that has already opened massive doors for her.

In fact, her networking skills are so impressive that she has already received a job offer from a Sphero representative, Mia.

We cannot wait to see all the amazing things you will accomplish.

Congratulations!

[APPLAUSE] Our final award is the newly named Greg Drake Stlp Scholarship.

This award is dedicated to the memory of Greg Drake, whose unwavering support of Stlp continues to impact classrooms across the Commonwealth.

Greg was a true champion for students who believed deeply in the power of technology to transform learning.

We are incredibly privileged to have his wife, Beth Drake, with us tonight.

Beth, we would like to welcome you to the stage to help present this special award.

>> Good afternoon.

I'd like to start by expressing my gratitude to the Kentucky Association of School Technology for having this award, for creating it.

In Greg's memory, Greg was always enthusiastic about teaching, and he found true happiness in watching others learn and excel with technology.

Those were the moments he truly cherished.

The school technology leadership program was important to him, and I'm sure he's proudly looking on today.

It means a great deal to me and my family that his legacy will be celebrated in such a meaningful way.

We sincerely thank the ongoing kindness and generosity from cast.

And now, without further delay, I'm proud to announce the inaugural 2026 recipient of Greg's scholarship, Jack Whalen.

[APPLAUSE] And I don't know where he's from.

>> Jack is from Harrison County High School.

In just two years with Stlp, Jack led his teams to first place wins in both the UK Engineering Minds on Innovation Challenge and the Corvette Augmented Reality Challenge.

An aspiring civil engineer, Jack led Project Riverwalk, a brilliant design for downtown Cynthiana, featuring a walking bridge and fishing pier.

His work was so impactful that local leaders are now looking for ways to make his vision a reality.

Jack has learned that failure is never an end.

It is simply a restart.

We know these experiences will fuel his goal of making the world a better place through engineering.

Congratulations, Jack.

[APPLAUSE] On behalf of the cast board, congratulations to all of our winners.

We wish you the very best in your future endeavors.

Please join me in one more round of applause for our 2026 scholarship recipients.

[APPLAUSE] >> Very special.

Thank you so much.

Okay, as they're exiting the stage, we could have our champions from the Georgetown College Robotics competition step on up.

[APPLAUSE] Right on up here, ladies and gentlemen.

And here we go.

Second place in the K through five division goes to Bowen Elementary School in Powell County.

[APPLAUSE] [MUSIC] Second place, six through eight.

Division goes to the the block bots from South Warren Middle School in Warren County.

[APPLAUSE] Second place, nine through 12 goes to Brown High from J. Graham Brown School in Jefferson County.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] And now our first place winners K through five goes to WES bear cubs from Wilmore Elementary School in Jessamine County.

[APPLAUSE] Six through eight.

First place goes to the Tiger Tech team from Newburg Middle, also in Jefferson County.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] And in the nine through 12.

First place, a name that I suspect you're going to be hearing a lot this evening from Phoenix, one from Floyd County School of Innovation in Floyd County.

Great job guys.

[APPLAUSE] Congratulations to our Georgetown College robot use champions.

Great job.

[APPLAUSE] Okay, awesome.

Oh, fantastic.

Now coming to the stage, let's welcome our girls who Code Advance Kentucky girls who code champions.

[APPLAUSE] Let you introduce yourself.

Appreciate your.

>> So Girls Who code empowers students across the United States to pursue computer science by building skills, confidence and a supportive community of technology.

This year's Girls Who Code Challenge focused on using AI to address security challenges, encouraging students to design innovative solutions that promote digital safety, ethical technology use, and responsible AI development.

First of all, this year's Kentucky State winners of the Girls Who Code Challenge are for the Middle School division.

Second place we have Ramsey Middle School.

[APPLAUSE] [MUSIC] For second place in the high school division.

We have Madison Southern High School.

[APPLAUSE] First place in the middle school division.

We have Ramsey Middle, sorry, Rich Pond Elementary.

[APPLAUSE] And first place in the high school division.

We have Floyd County School of Innovation.

[APPLAUSE] Congratulations to all the winners Stlp coaches.

If you are interested in starting a Girls Who Code Club in your school, please see that gentleman down on the end?

Doctor Sean Jackson, my partner in crime and we will hope to see you again next year.

Thank you so much.

>> Fantastic.

Great group right there.

And now we're going to bring up the champions for the Help Desk Support Challenge.

Come on up.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] Awesome.

Big shout out to the team from the Office of Education Technology at KDE who lead our Help Desk Support Challenge.

Without further ado, here are our second place champions.

K through five division goes to the Bloom Community Tech Ambassadors from Bloom Elementary in Jefferson County.

[APPLAUSE] I mean, that's how you do it right there.

That's fantastic.

[APPLAUSE] Second place for six through eight goes to the Mizik beers from Mizik, Middle bears from Mizik Middle School in Jefferson County.

[APPLAUSE] Second place High School goes to HCS data seem.

Interns from Harrison County High School.

[APPLAUSE] Now our first place champions in the help Desk support challenge K through five goes to Lagrange Elementary from Oldham County.

[APPLAUSE] First place Middle school, sixth through eighth Division.

Goes to the Tiger Tech team from Newburg Middle in Jefferson County.

[APPLAUSE] And our first place nine through 12 champions E Wizards from Elizabethtown High School.

Let's give them all a big round of applause.

[APPLAUSE] Great job.

Congratulations.

[APPLAUSE] You can exit the stage.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] And as they're walking off, we could have our next group head to the back.

If you are a champion in the e-sports challenge, if you were a finalist and champion for Sphero Hero Stlp Tech Bowl, and of course, fan favorite sumo bots.

[APPLAUSE] If those finalists get head around to the backside of the stage.

Awesome.

Now come on up.

I'm going to welcome to the stage for the KC seven Cybersecurity Challenge.

Mr.

Brian Quillan, who is the mastermind behind this.

[APPLAUSE] And I'm going to turn the mic over to you, my friend.

Also, I should mention this is a last year was a state champion Stlp project coach.

So awesome.

Please go right ahead.

>> Happy Stlp everybody.

My name is Brian Quillan and I am the cyber security instructor over at The Hill, which is just about a mile down the road.

And I also serve as the Director of Curriculum and instruction for the KC seven Cyber Foundation.

KC seven is a nonprofit, and our goal is to make cybersecurity fun and engaging from everybody, from professionals to students in schools like you.

This is the second year that I've been fortunate enough to host this competition at Stlp State, and the goal is to empower people like you to understand that you have all of the skills you need to be successful in the career of cybersecurity.

And that was really visible today as all of these teams work to solve a social engineering attack that involved phishing and malware.

So students worked so hard to identify threat actors and map out this attack before they presented their findings to the University of Kentucky cybersecurity team.

And it was a really fun time.

So with no further ado, our runners up worked so well together and had great strategies for staying safe from these kind of attacks from Jackson County, Jackson ATC and yeah.

[APPLAUSE] And our winning team demonstrated very meticulous attention to detail to show off their findings, their first time in it.

Congratulations to the winners of the KC seven Cybersecurity Challenge from Daviess County Apollo High School.

[APPLAUSE] All right.

And this is going to continue for next year.

So if you feel like you have any kind of interest in cybersecurity, be sure to sign up for it.

I'll see you there.

Thank you.

>> All right.

Our next category is Kentucky Cinemania.

[APPLAUSE] So first things first.

If you go to KY.

Cinemania.org, you.

Whoa.

All right.

Cinnamon.

Yeah.

There we go.

If you go to KY cinnamon.org, you will see the how the challenge is laid out.

Cinnamon is a 48 hour video competition.

So we release surprise elements that surprise characters, surprise dialog and surprise prompts.

And our students have to write a script.

They have to write a great script and then figure out how to produce an amazing film that is only three minutes long.

So if you go to KY, cinemania.org, you'll see all of the student.

Come on, come on, you'll see.

Yeah.

Thank you.

You'll see all of the student products as listed.

We had over 600 students compete in this year's Stlp Cinemania.

So without further ado, let me start with our K through five division.

In second place, we had Eagle Eye films from Athens, Chiles Berg Elementary in Fayette County.

[APPLAUSE] In our sixth through eighth Division.

In second place, the video Vikes from Rowan County Middle School, Rowan County.

[APPLAUSE] And in the ninth through 12th Division in second place from HHS Media Arts, Harrison County High School, Harrison County.

[APPLAUSE] Yes, I love the energy.

All right.

Now here's our first place winners for this year's Kentucky Cinemania in the K through five Division from Kenwood Station.

Cinema maniacs, Kenwood Station Elementary from Oldham County.

[APPLAUSE] Awesome job.

You're really going to want to check out these videos in our sixth through eighth Division.

First place winners from Bowling Green, Junior High School, Bowling Green, Junior High, Bowling Green, independent.

[APPLAUSE] And our ninth through 12th grade first place winners Panther Nation Media, Knox Central High School.

[APPLAUSE] All right, give one more round of applause for our this year's champion winners of Kentucky Cinemania.

[APPLAUSE] Great job.

All right.

>> Great job.

Thank you.

I, I moved it all right.

>> Oh thank you.

Come on up.

Okay, now we're moving on to big hit one that everybody seems to love.

We got a lot of folks signed up for this one as well.

The Lego Education Steam superpower challenge.

[APPLAUSE] We do want to thank Miss Susan McGrath and Alicia Romayne from Lego Education for sponsoring this activity every year.

And now, without further ado, here's our champions.

Second place.

In the K through five division goes to the fruit Mashers from Norton Commons Elementary in Jefferson County.

[APPLAUSE] And second place in the sixth through eighth Division goes to Scapa Bluegrass from Fayette County.

[APPLAUSE] And now our first place champions, the K through five Division goes to Pikeville Elementary School and Pikeville Independent.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] First place 6 to 8 Division goes to Raider Robotics from Warren East Middle School in Warren County.

[APPLAUSE] Congratulations.

Thank you to all of our Lego education steam super powered champions.

Great job guys.

[APPLAUSE] Awesome.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] Man.

I'm telling you this next one guys racing to the future.

I know you saw him.

If you were in the exhibit hall with all the projects and you got down to the far end by the doors, you saw the awesome car races going on that was racing to the future.

And I want to turn it over now to their lead.

Paul, take it away.

Good to see you, sir.

>> All right.

We got.

>> A rule in racing to the future that you're allowed to be loud.

So let's give it up to our racing, to the future champions for 2026.

[APPLAUSE] Our second place elementary champion, Michael B.

[APPLAUSE] Our second place middle school champion, Finley Dunn.

[APPLAUSE] Our second place high school champion Eli N.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] Our first place elementary school champion from Cassidy Elementary in Fayette County.

Charlie S.

[APPLAUSE] Our first place champion from middle school, couldn't be with us this afternoon.

Anderson M from Hebron Elementary in Bullock County.

Let's give it up for him and our high school champion, Chris C, from Warren Central High School in Warren County.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] These students put on a show for us today.

We have one student in our elementary school, Charlie S, in a 20 foot seven inch strip of track, hit 30 miles an hour with a two inch car, built his car, set it up.

That's an incredible amount of performance out of a little electric car.

So let's give it up for these gentlemen.

They put on a show.

Thank you all.

>> Okay, fantastic.

So we're going to do a couple things real quick.

First, if you are a TSAST LP Coding Challenge finalist, head around to the back.

Also, our UK minds on innovation and the UK Web Coding challenge.

If you could head around to the back.

Now, here's what I like to do for just a second.

Okay, we've got just a minute.

We are about one hour into this award show and I know you have been wonderful.

You have been doing a great job.

You've been kind of long day and you're sitting still and you're getting, I get it, you're getting a little squirrely.

So let's take the next 20s where you can stand up, you can move for a second, you can let it out, let it rip a little bit if you need to.

Just let it out.

And the time starts now.

>> Hey, they're about to go out.

>> Nice.

10s.

>> About to go out.

>> All right.

Okay.

Good job.

You had a second there.

Nice.

You got a chance to relax a little bit.

Go ahead and take your seats.

And now we're going to move on to the very next category and keep this rocking and rolling.

Let's move it on to the RCX robo challenge extreme.

And I'm going to turn the microphone over to Mr.

Doug Guymon who is going to introduce our champions.

Doug, take it away.

>> Thank you Jeff.

This year marks the 20th year that RC X has participated at the Sdlp State Championship.

In this time frame, we've had roughly 15,000 students participate.

Today.

The kids had a theme of game time going outside, having fun, playing board games at the family kitchen table and so on.

So without further ado, I'd like to go ahead and award my elementary students.

So second place from Lyon County Elementary School, the LCES robotics team scored 550 points.

Second place.

[MUSIC] In first place, we have the Alverton Elementary School.

The conquerors scoring 575 points.

Now, my next group of middle school kids, both teams scored the same points 810 points.

The only difference is nine seconds in time between the first and second place.

So second place goes to Mazik Middle School from Jefferson County.

[APPLAUSE] And first place goes to Cedars of Lebanon Christian Academy.

The robo.

Raiders scoring 810 points in only two minutes and 34 seconds.

[APPLAUSE] All right.

Now, the high school division in second place.

We've got University Heights Academy, the DSO bots scoring 660 points.

And finally the first place high school team again, Cedars of Lebanon Christian Academy from McCracken County, scoring 755 points.

Good job everybody.

[APPLAUSE] Jeff doesn't want to come back up.

I need to talk some more.

>> Thank you guys.

20 years that's a long time.

All right.

Okay.

For this next challenge this is the robot cross out challenge.

A big big thank you to miss Mr.

and Mrs.

Mrs.

gray from Owensboro schools and CIO Chad Allward and all the team from Owensboro Independent for coming to help out and support the team.

Here are our champions.

For the robot robot.

Cross out one versus one.

Second place goes to.

And by the way, this is all nine through 12.

Second place goes to the Phoenix.

One team from Floyd County School of Innovation and Floyd County.

[APPLAUSE] And first place one versus one goes to the Owensboro Innovation Academy from Owensboro Independent.

[APPLAUSE] But wait, this is crazy.

This has never happened before.

So we have there are two robots cross out competitions, the one versus one and the autonomous version.

And our state champions were champions in both.

This time.

Second place goes to the Owensboro Innovation Academy from Owensboro Independent for the robot, cross out autonomous and first place goes to, you guessed it, Phoenix one from Floyd County School of Innovation in Floyd County.

Congratulations.

Great job guys.

Appreciate you coming on up.

And now we've got the Robot Royale line follow challenge.

Thank you to all of our friends in Warren County for supporting this all the years.

[APPLAUSE] As they come up on the stage, I will turn the microphone over to the man himself.

>> Thank you sir, thank you.

>> Hello.

Welcome.

Nice to see everybody tonight.

This afternoon is a great day.

Our competition is Robot Royale.

Line follows.

They use a Lego robot, use some light sensors and follow a white line through the table.

And we had some super fast times today, so I'm super excited to announce the winners.

So for our second place award, elementary K-5 goes to a K line.

Follow Alex Kennedy Elementary School.

Second place for six eight division goes to Russell Middle School.

[APPLAUSE] Great job.

[APPLAUSE] Second place in our 912 category goes to Fast and Furious at Eminence High School.

[APPLAUSE] All right, moving on to our first place winners, first place K-5 division goes to Rich Pond Elementary School.

[APPLAUSE] First place for six eight division with the fastest time of the day, by the way, goes to Warren East Middle School.

[APPLAUSE] And then first place for 912 division goes to Phoenix, one from Floyd County.

Floyd County School of Innovation.

Great job everybody.

[APPLAUSE] Congrats to all of our winners.

>> Thank you again, Warren County Public Schools for supporting that awesome robot challenge we're going to send to the back.

Now, if you are from the Wi Lee CS Computer Science Challenge, head to the back.

And of course the UK Web Coding Challenge.

Head around to the back.

We had a really, really exciting addition to stop this year.

Come on up guys.

We had a really exciting two different exciting areas that were back under Rupp Arena back here.

Our Shoutcasting challenge and our Esports challenge.

And I'm going to turn the microphone over to the mastermind himself, Mr.

Chad Lacefield from Fayette County Public Schools, to take it on for the rest of the way.

Awesome.

Thank you so much.

Excellent.

So.

Hilarious.

On behalf of Epic Esports of Fayette County Public Schools program, we want to thank Stlp for hosting Kentucky's first ever middle school esports championship.

So over the course of ten weeks, 22 Kentucky middle school teams battled it out in the play versus middle school southeastern region, which was consistent of over 200 teams from 20 states.

And at the end of the season, it was obvious that Kentucky has the best esports teams in the region, with Lexington Middle finishing in first place.

McHale middle, second place in Tates Creek Middle and fourth and all three were undefeated going into today, so naturally we had to have our own competition for Kentucky to settle it all out, which is what we did now.

Naturally, as we had this competition, we wanted our gamers to be able to experience what it's like to be true gamers.

So we also did the Shoutcasting on Demand challenge, and with the Shoutcasting on Demand challenge, those kids got to commentate the actual games as they happened.

So we want to thank so much all of our esports experts from the University of Kentucky Center College, Bellarmine University, Transylvania University, and representatives from esports companies like Gadget and Bite Speed Gaming for actually judging all of the Shoutcasting.

So at the end, we had our two Shoutcasting finalists and in second place winning.

Our second place is McHale middle.

Give it up.

We have Kinsley Jones and Jensen Stewart coached by Jacob Brown, which means also our friends at Lexington Middle who won, who could not be here because they're doing an actual play right now.

They had to run to go.

So they're listening in and watching in.

Got your trophy.

So congratulations.

Lexington Middle, our overall Shoutcasting champion first place.

But naturally, you're probably also wondering like, oh, well, who won the actual tournament?

You had all these great teams.

So yes, we invited the 16 top teams from middle schools here in Kentucky.

Again, they did not disappoint.

It was amazing.

So, so entertaining.

And without further ado, in second place, we have Drake's Creek Middle, coached by Jacob Mandel.

They're our second place this year.

And in first place we have Leestown Middle, coached by Andy Gonzalez.

They're our first place ever Kentucky middle school champions.

So let's give it up again for everybody, Shoutcasters and esports.

So we hope to see more teams next year, both in Shoutcasting and our middle school esports tournament.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] Fantastic.

It was super cool down there.

Thank you again to all the Fayette County Public Schools and their technology department for supporting that amazing event.

And now we'll bring up on stage our next group, which is a big hit.

Everyone loves the Sphero Hero.

While they're coming up on stage, I want to say a giant thank you to Becky Adkins and Matt Rogers from the Kentucky Department of Education for sponsoring and leading the Sphero Hero Challenge, and there's a lot of them.

So here we go.

Second place K through five goes to the team from Natcher Elementary in Warren County.

[APPLAUSE] Sphero hero six through eight.

Second place goes to Margo, Lila and Pressley from Austin.

Trace Elementary School in Barren County.

[APPLAUSE] Nine through 12.

Second place goes to Liam and Landon from Taylor County High School.

[APPLAUSE] First place K through five Division goes to Chancey Robotics from Chancey Middle School in Jefferson County.

Chancey Elementary School in Jefferson County.

Excuse me, six through eight.

First place goes to Annabelle Audrey McKenzie from Jay Graham Brown School in Jefferson County.

[APPLAUSE] And for our nine through 12 team, this has never, ever happened before.

Who this is a five time in a row championship team.

Please give it up for the team from Floyd Central High School in Floyd County.

Five time first place champions in Sphero Hero.

Great job.

Congratulations to all of our sphere here winners and for our team from Floyd.

It's been awesome.

It's been great.

Now you got to pass it on to someone else at Floyd Central.

>> I know.

>> Oh this was a big one.

Our next one was giant.

We.

There were so many folks there today, we almost ran out of chairs.

So let's bring up onto the stage our champions in the Stlp Tech Bowl challenge.

Okay.

Thank you to Miss Rhonda Thompson, who's CIO in Jackson County, for sponsoring our tech Bowl every single year.

She does a great job with it.

Here are our winners.

Second place K through five goes to Sydney R from Norton Elementary in Jefferson County.

[APPLAUSE] Love it.

6 to 8.

Second place Tech Bowl goes to Lockyer from South Warren Middle School, Warren County.

[APPLAUSE] Second place nine through 12 goes to schlocky P from Webster County High School and Webster County.

[APPLAUSE] Now first place for the K through five Division goes to Ephraim W from Jesse D Lee Elementary School in Knox County.

[APPLAUSE] Congrats.

Love seeing Knox County on there now six through eight, six through eight.

First place goes to Nash T from Bowling Green, Junior High, Bowling Green Independent and nine through 12.

First place in tech Bowl goes to Braxton B from Knox Central High School, Knox County, Knox County with a big showing tonight.

Great job.

Congratulations to our tech bowl winners.

And now coming up on the stage, another big fan favorite is the Sumo Bot competition.

So if you made it down into the Stlp Robot arena down on the lower floor, you got to see all those robotics things going on.

And the Sumo Bot challenge is a big hit.

You build a robot, they build a robot.

You see who can push the other one outside of the circle.

Awesome, fun.

Let's celebrate these champions right now.

[APPLAUSE] So as I call your team, please step forward.

Second place K through five goes to Ashland Elementary School in Fayette County.

Six through eight.

Second place goes to the musique grizzly bear bears from Musique Middle, Jefferson County.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] Nine through 12.

Second place goes to Phoenix, one from the Floyd County School of Innovation in Floyd County.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] First place, first place K through five goes to the beast from Wellington Elementary in Fayette County.

[APPLAUSE] First place six through eight goes to Bowling Green Junior High School from Bowling Green.

Independent.

And nine through 12.

First place goes to Dragon Bite from Warren Central High School in Warren County.

[APPLAUSE] Great job.

One more big round of applause for our Sumo Bot champions as they are exiting the stage.

Thank you guys.

Thank you everyone.

Awesome.

Now we've got the TSA coding challenge and I'm going to turn it over to a familiar face doctor Sean Jackson.

We want to thank him as well as well.

I'm just going to let it.

I'm gonna let it go.

Okay.

I don't.

>> Want to.

Thank you.

>> We're really privileged to have been able to work with TSA the last few years to align this type of coding challenge that they see at the TSA competition right here at Stlp to show this ongoing partnership, because you can participate in both Stlp and TSA and succeed at high levels.

We'd like to thank Doctor Jim Renault from Shawnee State University, who joined us today on site to judge, along with some special guests from the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at NC State University.

Thank you for coming down here and judging with us today for this this challenge.

So for second place, six through eight, the Coding Spartans from South Warren Middle School in Warren County.

[APPLAUSE] All right.

Second place, nine through 12, Phoenix two, Floyd County School of Innovation, Floyd County.

[APPLAUSE] And this was a tough one.

First place we actually had a tie between two teams.

But the good thing is they're both from the same middle school.

We'd like to recognize the outstanding coding of Music middle School in Jefferson County.

[APPLAUSE] And first place nine through 12, Isaac A and Cason P from Madison Southern High School in Madison County.

Again, give give these great coders a big round of applause.

[APPLAUSE] >> Okay, the next award is going to the UK Engineering Minds on innovation.

We'll have them come up on stage.

Thank you to our friends at the University of Kentucky and of course, Mr.

Tim Sizemore from KDE for leading this challenge.

[APPLAUSE] Here are our champions.

K through five.

Second place goes to the SGE Buffaloes from Stamping Ground Elementary and Scott County.

[APPLAUSE] Nine through 12.

Second place goes to the clinic crew from Elizabethtown High School.

Elizabethtown independent.

[APPLAUSE] And now for first place minds on innovation.

K through five goes to the Dig Masters from Glasscock Elementary in Marion County.

[APPLAUSE] Six through eight.

First place goes to Mustang hydroponics from John M stumble, Floyd County.

And first place in the nine through 12 division goes to nerds with attitude from Harrison County High School in Harrison County.

[APPLAUSE] Great job.

Congratulations, gang.

And now we're up to our next challenge.

Welcome, welcome welcome.

This is our UK web Coding challenge.

And of course, I want to welcome our lead doctor, Jerry Swann, who's going to announce our winners.

Thank you sir.

>> All right.

Hey all the web based we need to switch it from web to internet.

So we move up in the in the order next year.

All right.

So we had a great time once again at the Web Coding Challenge.

Very fun theme this year.

Thanks to the Secretary of Education.

It was a one invasion, not AI, but anyway, great, great products.

So I'm going to start with the second place from the K5.

Second place was Park B from Taylorsville Elementary School.

[MUSIC] [APPLAUSE] In the sixth through eight category.

Second place was Blake D from Henry F Moss Middle School.

[APPLAUSE] And at the ninth through 12 level.

Second place is Alex R. All right.

Okay.

Our first place winners from K5 was Lucas M from Goshen at Hillcrest Elementary School in Oldham County.

In the high school category, first place was Ian M from Woodford County High School.

And last night, last but not least from the middle school and saved this one for last was Braden C, who.

Braden had the highest overall score across all competitors.

So good job Braden, excellent job.

So thank you all and I hope to see a bunch of you all next year and it'll be super fun.

So thank you.

>> All right for this one.

Now we have our.

We lead computer science programing challenge.

Big thank you to doctor Angie White from we lead computer science for leading our challenge for us this year.

And I'm happy to announce our winners on her behalf.

[APPLAUSE] Second place six through eight goes to the T-Square Bros.

From South Warren Middle School in Warren County.

[APPLAUSE] Nine through 12 second place goes to the Miss Eagles from Madison Southern High School in Madison County.

[APPLAUSE] First place, six through eight goes to the Spartans who code from South Warren Middle School, Warren County.

[APPLAUSE] And first place nine through 12.

We lead CS programing challenge goes to Phoenix two from Floyd County School of Innovation in Floyd County.

[APPLAUSE] Great job.

Thank you again to our friends at.

We lead CS.

Oh okay.

If you were a finalist in the Website Design Challenge, come on down right now.

I think maybe we overlook that.

So website design, come on right down over here.

We're going to get you up on stage.

Sure.

That's a good idea.

So.

While we're waiting for those folks to come down, are we okay?

[APPLAUSE] Actually, let's let's take a jump back to here.

I want to introduce for a second, Miss Aaron Wofford.

Come over, step on over.

How many folks won an award today during the CDA challenges with Kelsey Starks?

Let me hear you if you want an award today.

Yeah, that was loud.

Sorry about that.

>> That's okay.

>> You have anything you want to say?

>> So I am in charge of the CDA Awards, which is creative digital arts.

So if that is something that you are not involved in, we encourage you to become involved in it.

You can make videos, you can make music, you can take pictures, you can make all kinds of different stuff.

There's 28 different categories.

And our numbers of entries are over 3000.

It's growing every year and we would love to see even more.

So if you are interested in that, talk to your SLP coach about it.

That award show happened at 1 p.m.

this earlier this afternoon.

We recognized all those winners, all of those projects, because they're all digital.

They are on the Sdlp website and you can actually click on them and see all of those awesome things.

So we encourage you to go to the Sdlp website, check out this year's winners and see if that's something that you want to do next year.

>> Okay.

[APPLAUSE] Thank you.

>> Thank you Aaron.

So now we're going to go ahead and bring up our website Design Challenge Champions.

Big shout out to Mr.

Gary Bachman from the Kentucky Department of Ed for leading our website design challenge with these folks.

Here are our champions.

K through five.

Second place goes to Emma Derosset from Porter Elementary, Johnson County.

[APPLAUSE] Second place six through eight Division goes to Ava S from South Warren Middle School in Warren County.

[APPLAUSE] First place K through five goes to Anna T from Bowen Elementary School in Jefferson County.

[APPLAUSE] First place in the sixth through eighth Division for website design goes to Jaslyn E from Drakes Creek Middle School in Warren County.

[APPLAUSE] And first place nine through 12.

Website design goes to Michaela N from Mercer County Senior High School, Mercer County.

[APPLAUSE] Congratulations website design, great job.

Appreciate you all.

Great work.

Looking forward to what you've got coming up to us in the future.

[APPLAUSE] Okay my friends, that concludes the Challenge Awards.

And now we're going to transition over into our project awards.

You know, today we had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of projects up in the exhibit hall, and we narrowed them down from 630 plus down to our level three finalists.

And here's what we're going to do.

We're going to talk.

We're going to now announce our best in level two group.

And here's what we're going to do.

Here's how this this is going to work.

You're going to listen for your project.

When your project is called, you're going to send one representative from your team down to that side of the stage to go around back.

As we share your team picture on the stage and on the screen for everyone at home to see.

Okay, so as we call and as we show you guys, you're going to make your way down, send one rep and we're going to pick up your award.

And please, if you still have it, bring your level three certificate with you.

That makes it a little bit easier on us to make sure everybody gets what is coming their way.

Okay, here we go.

Are you ready?

Are we ready to hear about who the project winners are?

Are you still out there?

[APPLAUSE] Here we go.

Yep.

First team is the Stlp bulldog cart from Temple Hill Elementary School in Barron County.

[MUSIC] [APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] Our next team is the Bulldogs Lost Treasures also from Temple Hill Elementary School in Barron County.

[APPLAUSE] Next, we could have Cougar care with dignity from Cane Ridge Elementary School in Bourbon County.

Come on down.

And now let's have the Greenery Protection Club from Cartmell Elementary in Carroll County.

[APPLAUSE] And now we are looking for the planting trees to help save the world from Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary School.

Come on down.

How about we have Panthers fitness frenzy from Sinking Fork Elementary School in Christian County.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] Now we need paws for a cause from South Christian Elementary School in Christian County to come on down.

House merch from Morningside Elementary School in Elizabethtown.

Independent.

Helping hearts from Pickett Elementary School in Fayette County.

Send your representative down.

Lost and found Operation Rescue from Stonewall Elementary School in Fayette County.

[APPLAUSE] And now printing with the purpose from Wellington Elementary, also in Fayette County.

Let's do the blessing Box from Gallatin County Upper Elementary.

Come on down in Gallatin County.

[APPLAUSE] The Cougar Kindness Crate from Alex R Kennedy Elementary in Jefferson County.

[MUSIC] [APPLAUSE] The garden team from Bloom Elementary in Jefferson County.

[APPLAUSE] Crafts for kids from Boeing Elementary in Jefferson County.

Now, if we could have the Cougar Creators Digital Camp series from Norton Elementary in Jefferson County.

Thankful Wildcats from Wheeler Elementary.

Autism awareness from Ryland Heights Elementary School in Kenton County.

Globe Trotters a journey through world cultures from White's Tower Elementary School in Kenton County.

[APPLAUSE] App smashing book talks with K, B, A, and more from Daniel Boone Elementary School in Madison County.

Once upon a block from Daniel Boone Elementary School in Madison County.

The lunchtime legends from East Valley Elementary School in Morgan County.

The inclusive Innovation Squad Friendly Fixers building fund for every friend.

For every friend.

Kenwood Station Elementary School in Oldham County.

[APPLAUSE] And now we've got walnut from Paintsville Elementary School, Paintsville Independent.

Creed, the Morale Media from Bowen Elementary School in Powell County.

Come on down.

Present Pirates printing from Staunton Elementary School in Powell County.

The Reading Ripple from Clearfield Elementary School, also in Rowan County.

[APPLAUSE] How to be human from Russell Primary School.

Russell Independent.

[APPLAUSE] Project enable from Ashland Middle School, Ashland Independent.

Send your representative on down.

Project revive also from Ashland Middle School in Ashland.

Independent.

The blessing box from Right Fork School Center in Bell County.

[APPLAUSE] The Boyd Nature Network from Boyd County Middle School, also in Boyd County.

Helio from Saint Peter and Paul Regional Catholic School.

Send your representative down.

[APPLAUSE] Social sisters from Robert D Campbell Junior High in Clark County.

Cardinal Pierre Meditation and Prevention from Robert D Campbell Junior High, also in Clark County.

[APPLAUSE] Mathletes.

Foot.com.

From Crittenden County Middle School.

Wingo Elementary School.

Virtual tour from Wingo Elementary School in Graves County.

Send your representative down.

Pixel and prose from Barrett traditional Middle in Jefferson County.

[APPLAUSE] Eco garden from Turkey Foot Middle School in Kenton County.

Wheels of change from Hinman Elementary School in Knott County.

The Treasury trees from Herald.

Whitaker Middle School in Magoffin County.

Come on.

Send your representative down.

Operation underdog from Mayfield Middle School.

Mayfield.

Independent.

[APPLAUSE] Online seizure pets from Morgan County Middle School in Morgan County.

Send your representative down.

Miss new show from Meece Middle School, Somerset Independent.

Great job.

The focus phone from Breathitt County High School.

Send your representative on down.

[APPLAUSE] Finding the lost school lost and found reimagined from Holy Family Catholic School.

Selling school spirit from George Rogers Clark High School, Clark County.

Happy hooves from George Rogers Clark High School in Clark County.

TLC loves Korea from Fayette County Learning Center in Fayette County.

And now the small school student athlete exposure from Franklin Frankfort High School, Frankfort.

Independent.

The circle of care from Fairdale High School in Jefferson County.

Fighting food waste from Seneca High in Jefferson County.

Send your representative down.

Now.

The Blue and Gold Network from Knox Central High School.

If you could send your representative down.

Beyond the den Mountain Lion News from Pineville Independent School from Pineville Independent.

Come on down.

[APPLAUSE] So the teams that we just named that are sending their representative down, congratulations.

You were a best in level two group.

You made it to level three.

Congrats.

That's fantastic.

Great job.

Let's give them a giant round of applause.

Great work.

[APPLAUSE] But now, my friends, it is time we are going to name off in no particular order, our top 20 projects as we name your project in school, you can bring your team down, hustle on down and around to the back, and we're going to bring all of the top 20 teams up on stage and find out who our state champions are going to be.

You're going to listen for your whole project title.

You're going to send your whole team and bring that level three certificate with you so that we can reveal who our champions are going to be.

Okay.

And now I'm going to turn it back over to the one and only Mrs.

Couch's son, Mr.

David Couch, to name off our top 20 projects again, in no particular order.

>> The reason I'm known as Mrs.

Couch is son in Johnson County.

My mom is a beloved teacher, so anybody who's a son or daughter of a teacher, usually they get called by their their parents name.

So typically I'm Mrs.

Couch's son, which I'm very proud of.

I do want to thank all those that were here today and those that were watching by Kentucky Educational Television.

I do want to give a high five because it takes people to make special things happen for others.

To my Office of Education Technology staff that were here all day, let's give a round of applause for them to make this happen.

[APPLAUSE] Some folks in particular, Jeff Sabolsky.

[APPLAUSE] Matt Crosslin.

Aaron Wagner, Wolford, Marti Park and we have some people behind right here that's doing all this up here.

Brian Spellman, a former Kentucky educational television employee that now works for us.

And Chuck Austin.

So thanks to all those folks making it special.

[APPLAUSE] I also want to thank the Rupp Arena in Lexington Center staff.

This is their favorite event to manage throughout the year.

So I do want to thank thank them.

I also want to thank Kentucky Educational Television.

We have a tremendous partnership with them.

It's one of the best in the country.

If you take a look at educational television.

Thanks, ket.

Making this happen, I do want all the individual and team winners.

When you go back to your home county, celebrate this like you would any other championship.

It deserves that.

So whether it's a sports championship or whatever, this is at the highest level of celebration.

Make sure folks, folks recognize that.

So let's talk about the top 20.

I'm going to identify the top 20 projects out of 1200.

And after that I identify the elite eight.

So I'll name off 12 schools.

They will leave the stage.

They'll have to be the lead.

Eight and then I will ask for the runners up.

I'll identify them.

They will leave the stage.

And the remaining four school districts or schools are our state champion in elementary K through five, six through eight.

High school and overall technology champion named after David Ziegler.

You all ready?

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] So these are the top 20 in the state of Kentucky for 2026.

Julius Marks Elementary School, Fayette County tech team.

[APPLAUSE] Alex R Kennedy Elementary School, Jefferson County.

[APPLAUSE] AR K Transition Station.

[APPLAUSE] Two from Bloom County.

Bloom Elementary in Jefferson County.

First, the bloom news.

Kids.

[APPLAUSE] And also from Bloom Elementary digital art magazine.

[APPLAUSE] Field Elementary, Jefferson.

County.

Field.

On air.

Greenwood Elementary.

Jefferson County.

Gators.

Book.

Scan.

[APPLAUSE] Kenwood.

Station.

Elementary.

Oldham County.

Lunchroom.

Lifesavers.

And Bowen Elementary, Powell County.

Dallas.

Story.

[APPLAUSE] Those are our K through five now our middle schools.

[APPLAUSE] Mary E Britton Middle School, Fayette County, Britton.

Tech.

Services, Duff Allen Central Elementary School, Floyd County.

Touch and go, James D, Adam Middle School, Floyd County comfort bear, James D, Adam middle School, Floyd.

County.

Flood.

Guard.

[APPLAUSE] Musique middle school, Jefferson.

County.

Replay.

Bourbon County.

High School.

Edutech.

Sandbox.

Eminence.

High.

School.

Fishermen.

[APPLAUSE] Betsy Layne.

High.

School, Floyd County BLSBLHS alerts.

Floyd County School of Innovation, last call lift model laboratory in Madison County.

Model.

Crew.

Morgan County high school breaking point initiative and South Warren High School.

Hi, pal.

Those are our top 20 schools in Kentucky.

Coming to the stage them a round of applause.

[APPLAUSE] [MUSIC] [APPLAUSE] I have this one.

So once again when they're getting up here, Julius Mark Elementary School.

Alex our Kennedy Elementary School two from Bloom Elementary Field Elementary, Greenwood Elementary, Kenwood Station elementary, Bowne Elementary, Mary E Britton Elementary, Middle School, Duff Allen Central, James D Adams, James D Adams, two, from James D, Adam Isaac Middle School, Mazak Middle School, Bourbon County High School, Eminence High School, Betsy Layne High School, Floyd County School of Innovation Model Laboratory, Morgan County High School and South Warren.

>> Okay.

>> Yellow line.

>> CatDV team.

I'm too short.

[APPLAUSE] Excuse me.

>> I wouldn't set it down there.

>> Oh, are they in the back?

>> White line.

Take two steps forward.

If you're on the white line, come and move forward a little bit.

They have room in the back.

Thank you.

>> Right there.

>> All right, ladies and gentlemen, these are our top 20 schools in Kentucky.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC] [APPLAUSE] Okay.

Congratulations.

Now I'm going to name off 12 schools.

If I name if I call your schools name.

Once again congratulations.

But I need you to step off the stage.

And there will be eight remaining.

The first one, Julius Marks, elementary school tech team, move off the stage.

[APPLAUSE] Bloom elementary digital art magazine.

Please move off the stage.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] Field elementary and Jefferson County field of air.

Please move off the stage.

Greenwood Elementary and Jefferson County Gators book scan.

[APPLAUSE] Kenwood.

Kenwood station Elementary in Oldham County.

Lunchtime life savers, please step off.

Congratulations.

Bowen elementary school.

Powell.

County.

Dialysis.

Dialysis.

Story.

Please step off.

Mary E Britton Middle School, Fayette County, please step off.

[APPLAUSE] Duff Allen Central Elementary School.

Touch and go.

Please step off.

Bourbon County High School Edutech sandbox.

Please step off.

Betsy Layne High School in Floyd County, BLSBLHS alerts.

Please step off Floyd County School of Innovation.

Last call lift and the last of the 12 South Warren High School.

Hi, Powell.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] We now have our elite eight in Kentucky.

[APPLAUSE] Congratulations to our elite eight.

[APPLAUSE] The next up I will be naming the runners up to our state championship once again.

Great.

Congratulations to all of you for making it this far to the Elite eight.

[APPLAUSE] Our step state runners up.

Alex R Kennedy Elementary School, Jefferson County.

[APPLAUSE] Please step off.

Alex R Kennedy Elementary School, please step off the stage.

[APPLAUSE] That's our K through five runner up.

Our middle school runner up James D Adam Middle School, Floyd County comfort bear.

[APPLAUSE] Our Kentucky high school runner up model laboratory high school, Madison county model crew.

[APPLAUSE] And our runner up for the best overall technology project in Kentucky Mazique Middle School.

JK replay.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] The remaining schools on the stage are state champions.

[MUSIC] [APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] Bloom Elementary School, Jefferson County, Bloom news.

Kids, our middle school state champion, James D Adams Middle School flood guard, our state champion high school eminence high school fishermen and our best overall technology project from Morgan County High School breaking point initiative.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] These folks will be representing us in Orlando, Florida.

[APPLAUSE] Also, team champions.

Take your banners when you leave.

Those are your banners.

The high hanging your school.

We will be arranging a time with you for the Orlando trip.

I will also be visiting your school before the end of the school year.

Once again, thanks to everyone with stop!

>> Thank you all so much for attending our awards show!

For everyone watching at home, thank you so much.

We do have our date for next year.

We're going to see you on April 21st, 2027.

Mark the date now.

We'll be right back here in Lexington at Rupp Arena.

For everyone who helped bring this to life today, thank you so much.

Big applause to all the coaches, all of the parents, grandparents, everyone who was here today to help make today be awesome.

To everyone at home, thank you for watching.

[MUSIC] We can't wait to see you next year at the State Championship.

Congratulations to all of our winners.

One last round of applause.

Thank you all.

[MUSIC]