Local secondary students off to international robotics competition after provincial win
CBC
Two Hamilton-area secondary school robotics teams are headed to Houston, Texas, this week after winning the top spot at the 2022 Ontario Provincial Championship on Saturday, the FIRST robotics qualifying competition held in Mississauga.
The teams from Governor Simcoe Secondary School in St. Catharines and Orchard Park Secondary School in Stoney Creek shared first place with a third team from Huntsville Secondary School, after facing off as a group against more than 60 teams from around the province over Easter weekend.
They will now compete against 400 teams at the FIRST Robotics world championship, which runs April 20 to 23.
At least one other local team, Celt-X Robotics, from Bishop Ryan Catholic Secondary School in Hamilton, is also making its way to Houston.
"I'm just going to try and have fun and see what happens," says Governor Simcoe student and team member Nolan Graham, who was inspired by his older sister when she was on the team before him.
"I watched the competitions… so I just was like, 'okay, that's what I wanna do when I get to high school,'" Graham told CBC Hamilton after Saturday's win.
Matthew Coffey, a team mentor and former team member, said the win meant a lot to him because he could see how it made students feel.
"After we won, confetti fell from the ceiling and it was just a cool experience to see how excited the kids were," he said.
Coffey says there's a common presumption that robotics competitions involve robots duelling each other on stage, but that's not accurate.
"The goal is not to hurt another robot, it's to work together with your team to score more points than the other team," he said.
Coffey competed with the Governor Simcoe team, called the Simbotics, from 2007 to 2011, when he was a student at the school. Now he mentors the team as a way to give back.
"Ever since I graduated, I've come back to help out. I'm currently an elementary teacher at a different school, but I'm just returning the favour of mentors who helped me — I'm now helping other students," he said.
Joining robotics programs like this one is an important part of learning about robotics, said Coffey. He said the one at Governor Simcoe is unique, especially because they have mentors directly from the field of engineering.
He also pointed out that the drive and energy from joining programs like this help students believe in where they can go in the field.
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