GORE BAY—Two Manitoulin elementary school robotics teams received awards at the First Lego League West Provincial Championships last week. The Charles C. McLean Public School (Gore Bay) Mecha Martens team won an Innovation Solutions Award, while the M’Chigeeng Kwesensag #42176 Lakeview School in M’Chigeeng brought home a Rising Stars Judge’s Award.
While Ray Scott, coach of the Charles C. McLean team, was very surprised by the squad (which includes Grades 4-6 students Athena Gravelle, Amara Wilson-Zegil, Hailey Wadge, Ezra Diebolt and Tegan Oliver) qualifying for the provincial championships, he was again taken aback with the team’s results at the provincials this past week in Waterloo.
“It was a quite pleasant surprise, again,” said Mr. Scott. He acknowledged “at the end of the competition (when the awards presentations were being made) I was just minding my own business and suddenly my kids were running to the front to receive their award.”
“We had a pretty exciting weekend,” stated Mr. Scott. “The team once again did unexpectedly well. We received the Global Innovation Solutions Award on the strength of the students’ space project, focusing on long term space trouble; as to what would happen if an astronaut’s eyes tear up on a space walk as they are wearing a helmet. They would be blinded and wouldn’t be able to see. The students’ solution is to have absorbent cotton pads in the helmet in such a way that if an astronaut teared up in their helmet the tears would be mopped up by the cotton pads.”
“The students presented their solution to the judges,” said Mr. Scott. “Then, later in the day they had to take part in a call back to outline their project again in front of a different set of judges.”
The students’ project had to perform other specific tasks, such as the crater cross, skid velocity, space walk emergency and observatory, each simulating a mission in space.
“The students have been working very hard the past few months. They have spent four to five hours a week since October working on their project,” said Mr. Scott. “They are a special group, with a range of special qualities that make them special. Just to be at the provincials, and to be among the other teams, was extremely flattering for the students.”
Mr. Scott noted there were a number of awards presented at the provincials, “and there were 40 teams.”
Not only did the C.C. McLean team receive the Global Innovation Solution Award, the team “has been invited to move onto the Ontario Innovators Celebration taking place at Seneca College (later this month),” said Mr. Scott.
“It was very exciting,” confirmed Mya Debassige, a Grade 5 student at Lakeview, who along with team members Scarlett Shogga, Harmony Panamick-Shawana, Aspen Debassige, Mia Manitowabi-Armstrong and Gnaajiwi Migwans, and coaches Dianne Glasby-Debassige and Connie Freeman, made up the M’Chigeeng Kwesensag #42176 team.
“I was a little bit nervous at the start,” said Mya, pointing out there was a total of 40 teams on hand and the event was a tough competition.
“It was huge,” said Mya’s mother, Candace Kaiser who, along with other parents, travelled to the competition. “When we got there, the team didn’t know what to expect. It was a high energy event and the girls really enjoyed it.”
Lakeview School’s robotics team was an initiative of coach Dianne Glasby-Debassige who had talked to Chris Mara, a former colleague at Wikwemikong High School who heads up that school’s robotics team, and he provided information on what types of robots and what the team needed to get started.
In June a robotics day was organized at Lakeview for Grades 4 to 8, which included Chris’ Wiikwemkoong #5672 team and their award winning Biaabco Niimoosh robot.
After more information sessions the Lakeview team decided to enroll in the FIRST Lego League (FLL), a division of First Robotics Canada.
Lakeview custodian Adam Roy took the standardized specifications provided by FLL and built the team a table for its robots. The team met at nutrition breaks, after school and on several Saturdays.
At a 2018 Science North tournament held in Sudbury, the teams had to identify a human physical or social problem faced during long duration space exploration within our sun’s solar system and propose a solution.
The Lakeview team decided to address possible depression in space. Their solution was based on the success of coach Connie Freeman’s therapy dog, Bear, at Lakeview School. They explored the possibility of taking a therapy dog into space and found that a virtual reality simulation that emulated this experience was their best option. They called their solution Astro-Bear, which they also presented at the provincial competition.
“We had decided on depression in space, due to space’s isolation, and came up with this solution,” said Mya.
Mr. Scott noted that as for the provincial competition itself, “there were 40 teams and the event was held at the University of Waterloo. “It was quite something. It was a full venue with robots on tables and on the floor. There was a lot of buzz—it was quite exciting for our team. But the kids were cool under pressure, even when they had to overcome some challenges. They had to make changes to their robot, rerouting the cable and redesigning the robot. The students ran into the pit area and made all the adjustments. They demonstrated so much grace under pressure.”
Mr. Scott stressed, “it was the students that did all the robot design, programming and the last minute changes. They have achieved everything themselves and by working so well together as a team.”
“To have both of the two schools from Manitoulin among the 40 in the competition both walk away with awards is amazing. When it was announced that Lakeview had won an award, our whole team (C.C. McLean) stood up in the stands and cheered them on. It was incredible.”
