Alex Meadows, director of systems engineering, recently served as a volunteer judge at the 2025 TechPoint Youth Indiana Robotics State Championship—the largest state robotics championship in the country.

Held at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on March 22, the Robotics State Championship brought together over 1,900 students from over 300 robotics teams across the state. Students ranging from elementary to high school competed for a chance to qualify for the VEX Robotics World Championship in Dallas, TX.

Alex has been connected to TechPoint Youth for several years through both personal and philanthropic involvement. His partner, Kate Maxwell, has served on the organization’s Board of Directors for approximately six years. Meanwhile, Alex has supported TechPoint Youth by contributing to its fundraising efforts over multiple years and attending their robotics competitions as a guest. It was through these events that he became aware of and later engaged in volunteer work as a judge at each state competition for the past three years.

Alex played a critical role in evaluating the high school student teams at the Robotics State Championship. He interviewed teams to assess how they approached engineering challenges, collaborated as a team, divided responsibilities, problem-solved, and made design choices. Alex evaluated teams based on criteria such as preparedness, teamwork, and technical insight, using a combination of interviews, performance scores, engineering notebook evaluations, and feedback from referees to determine nine award winners.

“It was an amazing day that gave me an incredible appreciation for the ingenuity, energy, and grit of these students,” Alex said. “It was quite an exciting event and provided an inspiring glimpse into the capabilities of future engineers and problem solvers.”

Alex was joined on the judging panel by Cody Barron, also from systems engineering. It was through this volunteer work alongside Alex two years ago that Cody first connected with MISO—a connection that ultimately led to his joining MISO's systems engineering team.

MISO’s mission is well-aligned with advancing STEM education and empowering the next generation of innovators. Thank you, Alex and Cody for volunteering your time and talents to our community. Learn more about TechPoint Youth and how to get involved here.