STEM Wars 2025 was held over the past two days at the Northwest Arena featuring variety of challenges, such as competitions in robotics construction and programming, addressing social and emotional issues, catapult contests, and various engaging engineering challenges, all aimed at assessing the competitors’ ability to think creatively and solve problems in unconventional ways.

“This is what this building is here for – the community. I love seeing it packed like this,” said Keith Martin, Northwest Arena executive director.

The participants in Wednesday’s portion of the program included a diverse group of elementary school students from throughout the county. STEM Wars has seen growth over the years not only in the number of students who participate in it, but with the number of schools represented and other organizations who sponsor, support and attend it.

“We have a wide range of students from where they are from this year,” said Shannon Sauder, an event organizer and a kindergarten through fifth grade teacher. “We have our regular schools who participate in the event, and we have homeschooled, charter schools, and some who’ve traveled as far as four hours away from Pennsylvania.”

High school students pilot mini-robot devices on Thursday during the STEM Wars 2025 competition held at the Northwest Arena, 319 W. 3rd St.

Saunder said Brocton Central School secured first place in the elementary category of the event, thanks to its impressive lineup of fully operational arcade games.

“The students built a fully functional, designed out of cardboard, arcade game system,” she said. “It’s a full arcade system – the pinball machine portion seems to be a big hit with the kids.”

However, Falconer fifth graders Holden Trask and Meredith Freeman were most interested in the catapult building and launching table.

On Thursday, the excitement of STEM Wars surged as the high school segment kicked off, bringing together young innovators for an incredible showdown of creativity and ingenuity.

Todd Tranum, the executive director of the Manufacturers’ Association of the Southern Tier (MAST), notes that the high school segment of the event significantly enhances the presentation of various companies and organizations that hire in the manufacturing sector. STEM Wars provides an opportunity that enables participants to explore different career paths in manufacturing and technology before making a commitment to an employer, trade school, or college degree program.

Several hundred elementary and high school students competed on Wednesday and Thursday, at the Northwest Arena, as part of STEM Wars 2025. STEM Wars is a competition that revolves around science, technology, engineering, math, and challenges students to think critically and take an “out-of-the-box” approach.

“Each year, this program just keeps getting bigger and bigger,” he said. “We have a lot of great manufacturing career opportunities right here in our community, and this is a great way for the students to gauge an interest in the field.”

Many program participants showed a keen interest in the robotic working dog from Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, which demonstrated its capabilities on the ice rink floor alongside its handler.

“At the front of the robot, we have a thermal scanner; in the center, there’s an acoustic sensor, and at the rear, we utilize a video/LiDAR sensor. We really integrate the robot into our preventive maintenance program,” explained Jarod Potter, an employee at Nestlé Purina.

As Potter navigated the robot through the bustling ice rink, numerous students paused to capture photos of the electronic K-9 with their cell phones or to snap selfies alongside the robotic companion.

“I’d say he (or she) is a big hit with the kids,” said Potter.