Students "Feed a Pet" at 14th Annual Rube Goldberg Machine Contest

St. Louis School and Ripley County Engineering Academy were the 1st place winners.

Ripley County Engineering Academy took 1st place in Division II. Photo provided.

(Batesville, Ind.) - The 14th annual, regional Rube Goldberg Machine Contest hosted by Genesis: Pathways to Success and the Batesville Community School Corporation was held on Saturday, February 22, 2025, at Batesville High School in Batesville, Indiana. A total of seven teams from Division I (Middle School) and Division II (High School) competed in this competition.

Creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork were on full display as seven teams competed in the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest, where this year’s challenge was “To Feed a Pet.” From elaborate feeding stations to imaginative storylines, each team engineered a unique machine that transformed a simple task into an entertaining and complex chain reaction.

Division I teams participating in the contest were Batesville Middle School (Batesville, IN), Our Lady of Lourdes (Cincinnati, OH), and St. Louis Catholic School (Batesville, IN). Division II teams were Anderson High School (Anderson, IN), Batesville High School (Batesville, IN), Oldenburg Academy (Oldenburg, IN), and the Ripley County Engineering Academy (Osgood, IN).

Various awards were presented this year including first and second place for Division I, and first, second, and third place for Division II. The Best Dressed Award was presented to a team that best aligned their attire to the theme of their Rube Goldberg Machine. The Creativity Award recognized a team that used their imagination to develop an original and innovative theme and series of steps for their machine. Finally, the Most Rube Goldbergian Award was presented to a team with a machine that demonstrated and upheld characteristics and attributes that were most closely related to Rube Goldberg.

Awards for the 2025 Rube Goldberg Machine Contest were distributed as follows:

• Division I First Place: St. Louis Catholic School
• Division I Second Place: Our Lady of Lourdes School
• Division II First Place: Ripley County Engineering Academy
• Division II Second Place: Oldenburg Academy
• Division II Third Place: Anderson High School
• Creativity Award: St. Louis Catholic School
• Best Dressed Award: Ripley County Engineering Academy
• Most Rube Goldbergian Award: Anderson High School

The first and second-place winners from Division I and the top three teams from Division II are qualified to compete in the National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest on March 29, 2025, at the Purdue Armory in West Lafayette, IN. The National Competition gathers the best machines from around the world to compete, starting with Apprenticeship Teams and ending with Collegiate Teams. The Team at Genesis: Pathways to Success would like to wish Anderson High School, Oldenburg Academy, Our Lady of Lourdes School, Ripley County Engineering Academy, and St. Louis Catholic School the best of luck.

“Our regional Rube Goldberg Machine Contest continues to grow with each passing year, and the brilliant students who construct the intricate machines continue to impress me with their ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking. These students take a pile of junk and renovate it into a chain-reaction machine to complete a simple task, which teaches them a variety of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics) concepts,” stated Clarice Patterson, Executive Director of Genesis: Pathways to Success. Patterson further noted, “The success of our regional competition wouldn’t be possible without the support of our passionate volunteers, who serve as Judges, Referees, or Timekeepers, and our sponsors.”

Sponsors for the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest include the Ripley County Community Foundation, Southeastern IN REMC, and Franklin County Community Foundation. The generosity and support from these sponsors is appreciated by everyone involved in this program.

If you are interested in learning more about the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest or would like to volunteer for next year’s competition, please contact Genesis: Pathways to Success by emailing at info@genesisp2s.org, calling 812-933-1098, or stopping by the office at 13 E. George Street, Suite B, Batesville, IN, 47006.