Season 9 Nationals Recap: Innovation and Inspiration in Fishers, Indiana

Fishers, IN (Nov. 23, 2025) – It has been an incredible journey for Make48 Season 9. After intense regional events in Dallas, Winona (MN), and Kansas City, the competition concluded this week in Fishers, Indiana, at the remarkable Fishers Maker Playground.

Six teams battled their way through regional competitions to earn their spot at Nationals. These middle and high school students faced a new location and a fresh challenge, but they brought the same creativity and drive that got them here. While the stakes were higher, the support system remained strong—a community of Tool Techs, mentors, and the Make48 team all cheering them on.

Season 9 at Fishers Maker Playground

The Teams

These finalists represent the best of the best from our regional heats:

From Dallas, Texas (Vandermont):

• Bolts & Brains: Michael Llanes, Malachi Goggans, Greyson Goggans, and Anthony Perea

• The Other Guys: Liz Payne, Ben Goggans, Abraham Goggans, and Levi Payne

Team The Other Guys standing infront of banner holding 1 team member

From Winona, Minnesota (Southeast):

• We Fail Fast Too: Jillian Harvalis, Cory Bustamanta Chicaiza, Colin Shea, and Leo Cleary

• Wingers: Piper Ryan, Gavin Plath, Tristan Wilczynska, and Bentley Ricks

Team We Fail Fast Too standing together infront of banner

The Wingers team at Make48 holding up #1 fingers in front of banner

From Kansas City, MO (Kansas City Art Institute):

• The Dream Makers: Vicki Davis/Pam Arbeiter, Vivi Petelin, Sydney Parcell, and Heaven Gabrielson

• CTEC CAPS Creators: Jaimee Berry, Caroline Maisch, Crosby Taylor, and Madeline Hillaire

The Dream Makers team standing in front of Make48 Corteva banner smiling and holding up peace signs

Team CTEC CAPS Creators smiling in front of make48 corteva banner

After a strong deliberation and a thorough assessment of the team's ideas and prototypes, the judges announced the winners of two prestigious awards. We Fail Fast Too received the Best Agilities Award. Taking home the top prize, The Dream Makers secured First Place for Best Innovation, winning a  $10,000 and a one-of-a-kind custom trophy created onsite by our very own Tool Techs!

The Challenge: Food Forward

For Nationals, we partnered with Corteva Agriscience, a global leader in agriculture and innovation. For over 100 years, Corteva has worked with farmers to grow healthy food, believing that no one should go hungry.

The challenge was titled "Food Forward." Across America, families face barriers to accessing the healthy food they need. Fresh food spoils too quickly, distribution is physically demanding, and many families struggle to find where support is available. Simultaneously, community organizations want to provide food in ways that are dignified and practical but often lack the necessary tools.

Corteva invited our teams to design bold, practical solutions to make food more accessible, nutritious, and respectful for everyone, while helping organizations serve their communities more effectively.

Once the challenge was revealed, the energy was kicked into high gear! With a fast and furious 48-minute hardware run at Great Lakes Ace Hardware store, teams gathered their materials and raced back to Maker Playground to begin their consuming fabrication process.

Mentorship, IP, and Judging

Innovation requires guidance, and our teams were in excellent hands.

Chris DeBacker with CTEC CAPS Creators

Intellectual Property: A huge thank you to Chris DeBacker from Avek IP, who helped our teams navigate the complex world of intellectual property. Chris has been with Make48 as a patent attorney since Season 2, ensuring our teams’ ideas are protected.

Mentors: Our mentors used their deep experience in community service and food banks to guide the teams’ concepts:

• Ronda Hamm (Conner Prairie)

• Emily Weikert Bryant (Feeding Indiana's Hungry)

• Kathy Hahn Keiner (Crooked Creek Food Pantry)

Bolts & Brains meet with the Focus Group

The Focus Group: Before facing the final judges, teams had the opportunity to test their ideas and pitches with our Focus Group. A special thanks to Kelly Tuntland, Rupal Thanawala, and Tom Gray for providing critical feedback and challenging the teams to refine their presentations.

Ronda Hamm (Conner Prairie), Sam Schwoeppe (Fresh Connect Central) and Sue McCloskey (Fair Oaks Farms)

The Judges: Choosing a winner at Nationals is never easy, especially with such high-caliber teams. Our judges had the difficult task of evaluating the final pitches:

• Sam Schwoeppe (Fresh Connect Central)

• Sue McCloskey (Fair Oaks Farms)

• Ronda Hamm (Conner Prairie)

The Tool Techs: We could not build anything without our talented, well-rounded Tool Techs who worked tirelessly alongside the students: Tyler Isaacs, Miles Davis, Adam Kittrell, Christina Santa Lucia, Luis Rodriguez, Matt Rohr, Ryan Patterson, Steven Howard, Jason Tuntland, Kelly Tuntland, Jeff Heiking, Andrew Oakley, and Brendan Norton. As well as our volunteers, always there to give a helping hand; Ryan Mahoney, Jake Keltner, Jordan Sims, Matthew Kinder, Mia Henderson, Claudia Dille, Cliftton Storten, John Carr, Joan Carr, Andrew Lu, and Sophie Glassely

What’s Next?

To find out who took home the trophy, stay tuned! Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on social media to get the first notice of when these episodes will air on the This Old House Maker Channel (Roku).

Thank you for an amazing season, and we look forward to seeing you in Season 10!