Eli Cochran—Outstanding Alumni 2020-2021

Tad Douce presents an Outstanding Alumni award to Eli Cochran. Eli graduated in 2005 from Tri-Rivers’ Electronics program.

Eli has thrived in every role he has held since leaving Tri-Rivers. He has excelled so much, that he was recently selected to lead the Cyber Security Program at Delaware Area Career Center beginning in the 2019 school year.

When Eli was a student at Tri-Rivers, he joined Mr. Ritch Ramey’s robotics team, even though he was not in the Engineering program. When Eli left Tri-Rivers for Marion Technical College, he continued to compete in the National Robotics Challenge (NRC) at the post-secondary level— forming a team with just himself. Upon entering the workforce, Eli immediately committed himself to serving as a judge for the annual event, and two years ago, he decided to go “all-in” and join the organizational committee. Eli now serves as the Director of Contest Judging, taking over Mr. Ramey. Through his work, the National Robotics Challenge has modified the judging assignment process to utilize online tools that assist both judges and the companies they work for with understanding the schedule and assignments.

Eli has overcome some very difficult learning challenges to embody what a student can do when they put their mind to it. Now he is inspiring the next generation of future technicians and leaders to keep our community strong.