Once again the Near North Student Robotics Initiative Team 1305 has done North Bay proud. The team competed at the FIRST Robotics Competition held at the University of Waterloo this weekend and walked away with the Chairman’s award which now qualifies them for the for the World Championships this April in St. Louis, Missouri.
The Chairman's Award is the most prestigious award a team can win at a regional or at the championship, more so than even winning the competition itself.
Demonstrating the prestige of the award, a team that wins a Regional Chairman's Award receives a reserved spot at the championship event so that they may compete for the Championship Chairman's award, regardless of their on-field performance. The Chairman's award was created to recognize teams that demonstrate the greatest commitment to spreading passion about science and technology into their communities and schools. Submission involves writing an essay of approximately 2,500 words (10,000 characters) documenting the team's efforts at spreading the message of FIRST, as well as student interviews with judges at the competition.
This year's Chairman's Team are Meghan Clout from West Ferris, Phillip Carmichael from Chippewa and Mitchell Martyn from Widdifield. Their Mentor is Nancy Dewer Stenning.
Story and photos submitted by Maureen Clout
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Near North Student Robotics Initiative News Release:
Near North Student Robotics Initiative Earns Top Award at Waterloo Regional Competition The Near North Student Robotics Initiative (NNSRI) competed this weekend in the FIRST Robotics regional competition in Waterloo, Ontario. The event featured 29 teams from Ontario and Michigan high schools and was hosted at the University of Waterloo. NNSRI has been hard at work since January to meet the 6 week deadline to build its 11th robot, "Duke" and complete other requirements necessary for the multi-faceted competition. They were honoured to earn the most prestigious award, the Chairman's award, which recognizes a role-model team that effectively inspires respect and enthusiasm for science and technology.
In their evaluation, the judges praised the entire team for their impact on the community and commented on the number and variety of outreach initiatives including the "Robomania" exhibition at Northgate Square, volunteering with the Early Years Centre, Diabetes Walk for the Cure and the North Bay Regional Hospital Walk/Run. In addition, they recognized the efforts this dynamic team made to expand their team to Sturgeon Falls, and start a new team in London, Ontario and work with local younger students in the FIRST Lego League. Averaging one event every week, these energetic students develop leadership, public speaking and entrepreneurial skills in addition to learning the technical aspects of developing a complex robotic machine.
Presenters Phillip Carmichael, Megan Clout and Mitchell Martyn worked hard to prepare a polished comprehensive presentation that reflected the efforts of the whole team. "We were ecstatic," said Phillip, who said that while they seemed outwardly calm they were inwardly shaking as the announcement was made. Earning this award has another significant benefit - the team has earned a berth to the international competition held for the first time in St. Louis, Missouri at the end of April.
The robot, "Duke" struggled in the beginning of the competition but improved remarkably over the course of competition and was an early pick in the alliance selection phase to move to the semi-finals. A Michigan team, the "RoboDawgs" chose NNSRI to join them in the finals along with "Cybernetics" from East York. Although the teams were eventually knocked out, Captain Darren Stahl and robot manager Martin Gagne are far from giving up. "We have a lot of work to do over the next few days to make improvements for the Greater Toronto Regional competition that starts this Thursday," commented Darren. The team will continue to work on modifications to boost scoring especially with the "mini-bot" component.
Mayor Al MacDonald had visited the students during the building of the robot and came to witness the students compete on Saturday. The students were pleased to have councilor Judy Koziol on hand as well. "Having local politicians present made a significant impression on the team members as well as the judges who noted again that the team has had a positive impact on the community," said mentor Judy Smith. "Many volunteers with program also commented on this impressive show of support for these dynamic young leaders". The team also wishes to thank the Near North District School Board, North Bay Chapter of Professional Engineers and their many other community sponsors and partners.
Community well wishers can contact the team through their website at www.team1305.org.
