Citizens following the state of competitive robotics in Kingfisher Public Schools may recall that the FIRST Tech Challenge robotics team qualified for the state competition for the first time this year (Kingfisher Times and Free Press, Feb. 9, 2025).

While this team didn’t score high enough to earn a trip to the national competition, the dust from the state tournament had barely settled when KHS freshmen and teammates Will Finley and Finley Harrison were approached by Kurt Kaya, their robotics instructor at KHS, to start work on a new robot project.

Little did any of them know that would lead to a state championship.

The new competition robot would be used by the pair to compete in the Technology Student Association (TSA) State Leadership Conference in Norman.

TSA is an Oklahoma Career and Technology Student Organization (CTSO) that promotes “personal development, leadership and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) through intracurricular activities, competitions and related programs” to its 18,000 student members statewide.

With just over two weeks of planning, building and test time, Finley and Harrison got to work and had a working bot charged up and ready for the April 10 competition.

This was to be Finley and Harrison’s first time participating in a TSA high school competition, which gathers schools from across Oklahoma to compete in a myriad of technology-based events.

While the pair competed in other events as junior high members, this was to be the pair’s first time facing student teams older and more experienced than themselves.

After their 10-minute live competition round where their robot had to navigate a series of difficult obstacles and technically challenging tasks, the teams with the top 10 scores would then compete in the semifinals round, consisting of a face-to-face interview with TSA officials.

Entering the semifinal round, Finley and Harrison were the top seed, being one of only two teams to complete every task in the live competition round.

However, the freshmen duo now faced what most teenagers would deem to be a more nerve-wracking test…a live interview.

Unfortunately, said Kaya, in the short time they had to build and complete the robot, Finley and Harrison had little time to prepare verbal responses, let alone time to rehearse how they would answer the questions put to them for the interview.

“I told them the day before we left for state that if they did manage to get to the semifinal round, to just keep their answers short and simple and focus on the main point of the questions they were being asked,” Kaya said.

“They were all too familiar with the challenges they faced and relied heavily on their experience with the engineering design process to build upon and constantly improve their bot.”

The students’ work and Kaya’s advice worked.

Finley and Harrison wereeventuallyannounced as the state competition winners.

The ninth graders have been friends since kindergarten, living and breathing robotics since their days on the FIRST Lego League robotics team (fourth grade) right up to the FIRST Tech robotics team this year.

Kaya said their long-standing friendship proved to be an instrumental factor in their success in both the robot build and their semifinal interview.

Only the top three finishers at the state conference earned a spot at the TSA Nationals.

Second place this year went to the six-person team from Francis Tuttle Technology Center with third place going to Tulsa Tech (Thomas Edison Preparatory High School).

“The fact that two freshmen from Kingfisher beat out powerhouse robotics programs from some of the largest school districts in the state, including Westmoore, Jay, Skiatook, Jenks and Okmulgee, as well as tech centers Metro Tech, Tulsa Tech and Francis Tuttle, says a whole lot about the boys’ talent both in the robotics lab and the competition ring,” Kaya said.

While Finley and Harrison certainly played their roles, Kaya said their success can be attributed to their support systems as well.

Finley is the son of Kurt and Morgan Finley.

Harrison’s parents are Jared and Jessica Harrison.

Kaya said both families have committed to traveling to the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville at the end of June to watch their sons compete for a national award.

“The support from home that both Will and Finley receive has been instrumental in their success both on our FIRST Tech Challenge team and the school team as well,” Kaya said.