North Bay and area youth who are part of the Black Ice Robotics Team, undertook extensive research to compete and win second place this past weekend at the regional robotics competition in Sudbury. As part of their research, the kids visited with Dr.
North Bay and area youth who are part of the Black Ice Robotics Team, undertook extensive research to compete and win second place this past weekend at the regional robotics competition in Sudbury. As part of their research, the kids visited with Dr. Lalonde, Chiropractor with BodyBack in Motion, and learned first-hand how good posture leads to good health. Black Ice Team members include: Back Row L-R: Sean Cazabon, Aleksander Rawlins, Ben Weeks, Keane Carriere. Front Row L-R: Marshall Point, William Fraser, Denver Swearengen, Allie Hamilton, Thomas Hamilton, Dalton Houlder. Story and photo provided.
If you have ever wondered what a good age is to start talking biomedical engineering with your kids, ten youth from North Bay and area in grades 5 to 8 will tell you, it’s never too young and it’s always fun!
This past weekend, the group of kids, known as Black Ice, competed in the regional lego robotics competition at Dynamic Earth in Sudbury. Under the guidance of Michelle Graham, Chippewa Secondary School Teacher, Black Ice surprised even themselves when they walked away with a second place finish – qualifying for provincials in Oshawa on January 15.
Michelle Graham takes little credit and says all the hard work is done by the kids, with the mentorship of local youth Mitchell Martyn, Carter Phillips and Sydney Graham. However, any one of the kids, mentors, or parents will tell you otherwise. Parent John Fraser said, “Michelle’s endless volunteer hours, incredible enthusiasm and attention to detail are what really paved the way for the team’s success. She instilled a sense of “you can do it” with the kids, and it resonated. It was a very exciting day.”
And, it was a long day. Starting at 8:00 am, the kids were judged on four aspects of their work: (1) how well they programmed their robot to successfully compete missions within a specified time – missions such as putting a lego-built cast on a lego-broken bone. (2) how correctly and articulately they answered technical questions in front of the judges with no parental or coach input; (3) how well they prepared and presented a skit to relay their researched information and answer questions from the judges afterwards (Black Ice chose to work with Widdifield Secondary students to put together a professional video); and (4) gracious professionalism – how well they competed gracefully, worked as a team and helped others competing on that day.
The kids are incredibly young and equally committed. Since the beginning of September, they have been meeting at West Ferris Secondary School three days a week for two-three hours each time. After undertaking research, they deciding that good posture was the area of biomedical engineering they would focus on. Specifically, they wanted to explore what could be done to help people have better posture. They presented to the Near North Board of Education, three local schools, visited local Chiropractor Dr. Michael Lalonde from Body Back in Motion, and wrote a letter to the Minister of Education asking her to consider including components of good posture into the school curriculum.
Two other North Bay teams competed on Saturday as well – one coached by Michelina Beam and the other by Donna Lynn Wallinford. Both teams received honours for their performances.
