Amherst County High School’s Real World Design Challenge team — called WISE (Women in STEM Excel) — won the state championship for a third straight year, district officials said, but the program’s national sponsor has stopped funding the national level competition.

Doctor Crawford introduced the team and described the challenge: design an uncrewed aircraft system that could deliver firefighting supplies (water, gasoline and containers) to wildfire response teams. The student-built UAS, nicknamed Bunsen, met the challenge parameters used in the state event.

Team sponsor Betty Stinson and mentor Duncan Gordon (an ACHS alumnus and Textron employee) were acknowledged. Crawford read students’ bios: team leader Phoebe Camp (returning member of prior state champions), Audrey Collins (mathematician, dual‑enrolled), engineers Ellie Armstrong and Brianna Chapman, mathematician Brianna Vergara, writer Shokla Kajiva and others.

Crawford said the national organization “opted to stop the funding of the program” and added that Amherst’s team will be the last state champions to advance unless the program is re‑funded. District leaders praised the students’ achievement and expressed disappointment at the loss of national sponsorship.

Ending: The district celebrated the students’ state championship while raising the program’s uncertain future at the national level pending new sponsorship or funding.