Sunday night, a bus-load of FIRST Robotics Team 1305 students, volunteer mentors, parents and team alumni, returned to North Bay from the 2016 FIRST World Robotics Championships held in St. Louis Missouri, says a news release from the group.
FIRST Team 1305's robot, Sophie, was seeded seventh in their division of 75 teams from around the world. Sophie and her drivers worked hard for two days in ten matches to secure a spot in the Divisional playoffs. Sophie then advanced to the semi-finals, losing out to the team that went on to win the World Championship. The whole team was thrilled with how well their robot performed and how far they got in the very competitive meet. The robot drive team consisted of four individuals, including Hayden Kelso (Build Manager), William Fraser, Kenna Tisseur and Dylan Lebel. Chairman’s students included Team Captain Ben Reevie, Business Manager Jessica Kelso, Harikesh Panchal and Lyndsey Bradford. Safety Captain, Britney Lebel, earned Safety Star of the Day on Saturday for her commitment to promoting safety to all teams, especially the many rookies.
More than 20,000 students, ages 6 to 18 from around the globe traveled to St. Louis, putting their engineering and business skills to the test at the annual FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Championships. In all, more than 900 teams from 42 countries were there.
Team 1305 qualified for Worlds earlier this season having won the much coveted Engineering Inspiration Award at the North Bay Regional competition as well as the most prestigious award in FIRST, the Chairman’s Award at the Windsor Essex Great Lakes Regional competition. The Engineering Inspiration Award celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s schools and community. Chairman’s honours the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST.
Throughout the four days, students were urged by prominent keynote speakers such as the US Secretary of State of Science and Technology, who explained that by using their brain power, imagination and the skills they develop through FIRST, they can solve some of the world’s greatest challenges. By getting young minds involved in mathematics and engineering it empowers them to do really cool things that they’ll be passionate about for life.
The event ended Saturday night in front of a roaring crowd of more than 40,000 where prominent dignitaries spoke to the young minds in attendance, including NASA Administrator Major General Charles Bolden who said, “I can’t stress how important it is to have young people like each of you pursuing STEM. You and your Mentors have demonstrated that it can be a lot of hard work, but also a lot of fun. It’s important work that can make a real difference to the world’s future.”
The team was well supported by other members in attendance who played key roles over the week including: McKay Larmer, Dalton Houlder, Maiya Durocher, Nico Gacitua, Alex Hilliard, Nick de Boer, Johan Rayburn, Jared Kelso, Liam Derosier, Kira Buckton and Bailey Lebel.
- Team 1305 is a veteran team, having existed for 16 years in North Bay.
- Students from any school are welcome to join 1305 at any point throughout the year. The team is community-based and maintains a positive partnership with the Near North District School Board.
- Team members are inspired by many community sponsors, such as Canadore College and North Bay Chapter PEO and have a long history of commitment to outreach.
