Cob & Cog a high-energy agricultural success

David Kronke, The Tribune-Star, Terre Haute, Ind.
·4 min read

May 1—Clay City High School prevailed at Ivy Tech's Cob & Cog event Friday, taking first place in eight of 21 competitions in the fields of agriculture and technology.

David Will, Ivy Tech's Dean for the School of Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering and Applied Sciences, who planned and executed Cob & Cog, called the event "controlled chaos. We have 600 high school students in this building who are competing at a high level, requiring them to have good communication skills, good teamwork skills, good engineering or ag-related skills, to compete as a team."

As ecstatic cheers erupted in the background, he said, "You can hear all the energy in this room — that's what I love about this event."

Cob & Cog hosted students from 17 high schools around the area. Since its inaugural year of 2013, Will said, "It's grown beyond what we could've imagined. It's a snowball that's grown into something larger."

Though many competitive categories have straightforward names, some sported creative monikers. For Whatever Floats Your Boat, teams design a boat that is evaluated on how straight it moves, if it floats at all. Let the Volts Be with You finds students attempting to locate and fix faults in electrical trainers. In Engineering Nightmare, students sketch a machined piece and give their work to fellow team members, who create a 3-D version — they are judged on how well their piece matches up with the original part.

Dalton Purcell, a senior at Riverton Parke who is also taking dual credit classes at Ivy Tech — he'll get his Ivy Tech certificate in animal-agriculture business before he gets his high-school diploma — hopes to be an architect when his school days are complete. He was one of the event's competitors, navigating a drone through a timed obstacle course. "It's not what I wanted to go for, but they needed people for it, so I stepped in and did that," he conceded.

After the competition, he concluded, "I'm not a drone flyer, that's for sure. A good buddy did it in one minute and nine seconds." Purcell's time doubled that at two minutes and 30 seconds. "I was terrible," he lamented. "I hit the pole like three times."

Clay City High School had significantly better luck, winning more medals than any other school and the trophy — which features a cob of corn atop it and a large cog in its belly — for the Quiz Bowl championship. The team was led by engineering teacher Ben Thomas and agriculture instructor Pat Powell.

"We put a fair amount of effort in preparing our students for the activities," said Powell. "They seem to enjoy it a lot and put a lot into it, which helps with the outcome."

Powell found the Power Tool Drag Race category one of the more quixotic. "It takes a lot of effort and calculation in order to get a power tool to power a car down the track," he said. Clay City won that one without any competition.

Thomas declared himself well satisfied with the scope of the event.

"The whole group of students here from all the schools had a good, spirited competition," he said. "Everyone had a great time, and Ivy Tech was top notch."

Cob & Gog winners included:

—Balancing Act: First place, Parke Heritage High School; second place, Loogootee High School.

—Biotechnology: First place: Clay City High School; second place, Cloverdale High School.

—Build Them and Crush Them: First place, Clay City High School; second place, Loogootee High School.

—Chain Reaction: First place, Riverton Parke High School; second place, Dugger Union High School.

—Drone Obstacle: First place, Shakamak High School; second place, White River Valley High School.

—Engineering Nightmare: First place, Dugger Union High School; second place, Terre Haute South Vigo High School.

—Excursion Plan: First place, Owen Valley High School; second place, Clay City High School.

—Food Science: First place, Dugger Union High School; second place, Northview High School.

—GPS/GIS: First place, Parke Heritage High School; second place, Clay City High School.

—IT Workstation: First place, Clay City High School; second place, South Vermillion High School.

—Let the Volts Be with You: First place, Dugger Union High School; second place, Clay City High School.

—Livestock Judging: First place, Terre Haute South Vigo High School; second place, Shakamak High School.

—Machinery Inspection: First place, Clay City High School; second place, Terre Haute South Vigo High School.

—Matter in Motion: First place, Clay City High School; second place, Terre Haute South Vigo High School.

—Mechatronics: First place Terre Haute South Vigo High School; second place, Wabash River Career and Technical Education Center.

—Power Tool Drag Race: First place, Clay City High School. No other teams competed.

—Puff Mobile: First place, Clay City High School; second place, Loogootee High School.

—Soil Judging: First place, White River Valley High School; second place, Parke Heritage High School.

—Welding: First place, Terre Haute North Vigo High School; second place, North Knox High School.

—Whatever Floats Your Boat: First place, North Central High School; second place, Shakamak High School.

—Quiz Bowl: First place, Clay City High School; second place, Parke Heritage High School.

David Kronke can be reached at 812-231-4232 or at david.kronke@tribstar.com.