MANITOULIN—The Manitoulin Secondary School (MSS) 6865 Manitoulin Metal Team has qualified for the FIRST Robotics World Championships in Houston, Texas!
“When the team went to the McMaster University competition (the first weekend in April) and won the FIRST Impact Award to qualify for the provincials, I told them you have already achieved everything you can expect this season. Go into the provincials (also held in Hamilton April 5-8 at the First Ontario Centre) and just relax, do your best and have fun,” stated Yana Bauer, one of the mentors of the MSS team, late Saturday evening. “Then the team won again at the provincials,” she said, filled with emotion. “We are all so proud of this team, they are a winning, magic team.”
As they had done at the McMaster University competition, MSS won the prestigious FIRST Impact Award. “We won the provincial Impact Award which is basically the gold medal of this type of competition,” stated Ms. Bauer. “I know I was bawling my eyes out as were the team members, coaches and parents who were on hand when the announcement was made. Everyone was ecstatic.” She said even Darwin Witty, who was the coach for the Make Shift Robotics team from Hamilton, who has strong family ties to the Island, was emotional as well.
“When we ran from our seats to centre stage to receive the award, every mentor from other teams stopped, hugged and congratulated us,” said Ms. Bauer. “We are a pretty humble team and didn’t really feel we could compare to teams that have taken part in international events. We didn’t think we would stack up, but mentors from other teams said we would win.”
“Our Impact Award presenters were short a person with team member Addy Gray having had to go home after the McMaster competition, and without mentor Caroline Black, who was also unable to be there. I filled in as mentor, staying in the background, and it was the first time I had ever heard any of the interviews judges did with members of our team. Alex (Wilson-Zegil) and Jocelyn (Kuntsi) and others on the team were so amazing, professional and succinct in their answers,” she said, noting the interviews were conducted last Thursday and Friday. “Alex had conducted tours Thursday morning explaining our robot and its design to visitors.”
The FIRST Impact Award is the most prestigious award at FIRST, it honours the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose of FIRST Robotics.
The FIRST IMPACT Award is presented to the team judged to have the most significant measurable impacts of its partnerships among its participant and community over a sustained period, not just a single build season. The winner of this award is able to demonstrate progress towards FIRST’s mission of transforming our culture. The recipient is invited to a FIRST championship (in this case the World Championship) where it competes for the FIRST IMPACT Award against winners from other qualifying events.”
“The judges were impressed with things that the team explained to them, like the design of our robot, engineering, our ideas and decision making, trouble shooting, business and stability plan, our team approach and promotion of engineering, and building our team over the years,” said Ms. Bauer.
The IMPACT Award was not the only award the MSS team won at the provincials. Team member Darwin Wood won a FIRST Canada scholarship valued at $5,000. “Darwin submitted an essay and reference letter, and was chosen by the FIRST scholarship committee,” said Ms. Bauer. As well, Jocelyn Kuntsi was a finalist for the FIRST Women in STEM scholarship.
“Lo-Ellen high school (from Sudbury) also qualified for the Worlds which will take place April 19-23 in Houston, Texas” stated Ms. Bauer.
Ms. Bauer explained, “our robot and our drivers performed better each and every match of the competition. On the first day of the competition, Thursday, we had some challenges to overcome. We did the repairs and came out strong for the rest of the event. On Friday we won a bunch of matches and upset some teams that we really shouldn’t have beat. In the meantime, we had all kind of judges interviewing, looking at and reviewing our robot and engineering. Right now, our robot is working at its prime right now, and our drivers during the competition were as good as anyone else there.”
“With Lo-Ellen’s robotics team also qualifying for the worlds, “we are both trying to figure out the logistics to get there. FIRST Robotics Canada will ship our robot, Bumblebee, to Houston. But we have a lot to work on how we are going to get the team there. Not everyone on the team has their passports, so we have to get them done and have contacted MP Carol Hughes for her assistance. We are also trying to work out a budget, because we have to book hotels and the flight to Houston and everything else. We are going to need help from sponsors and hopefully the Rainbow District School Board will also be helping out as well. Registration alone is $8,000.”
“Having two schools from the North and from the Rainbow board at the Worlds is a huge accomplishment,” said Ms. Bauer. “We are looking for financial help from anyone to make sure we can help to make this come to pass and we can get the team to the Worlds. They have earned it and it is a tremendous accomplishment to be representing Canada on the world stage.”
“We have about 50 sponsors help us so far, mostly mom and pop businesses and individuals who helped with the costs of going to the McMaster competition and the provincials. But we still need even more significant contributions to make sure we get to go to the Worlds,” said Ms. Bauer. “We are going to do anything we can to make sure everyone that wants to go can go. This is something these students will look at and remember for the rest of their lives. We need help to make this a reality.”
“Robotics teams are good at problem solving, so we are going to be trying to get all of this put together,” continued Ms. Bauer. She said MSS has to have their robot shipped to Houston and it has been taken to Sudbury this past Monday. Lo-Ellen is picking up two large crates, one for us, in Toronto and then will bring them to Lo-Ellen. Our robot will be shipped by Fedex. FIRST Robotics will take care of the shipping costs. We are very grateful to Lo-Ellen for helping us out like this.”
Another hurdle to cross is that “one of the things about our robot Bumblebee is that it is too tall to go into one of the crates for shipping. There is a 59-inch height limit to ship and our robot on the crate will be 60 inches tall. So, on Monday we will be giving Bumblebee a haircut, taking two inches off the top of our robot so it will fit in a crate.”
The world championship will include about 600 teams.
If anyone would like to support the team as it prepares for the World Championships in Houston, they can send a donation on behalf of Manitoulin Metal to the Rainbow District School Board, 408 Wembley Drive, Greater Sudbury, Ont. P3E 1P2. A charitable tax donation will be provided.
It is interesting to note that it has been nearly 25 years since MSS first represented Canada internationally. In 1999, the Science Olympiad champions from MSS competed with honours at two successive international Science Olympiad events in 1999 and 2000.
MSS physics teacher Mr. Rob Cassibo encouraged his students to compete—and win—regionally and provincially (just as the current MSS robotics team has accomplished), and in 1999, the team went to Chicago and then, in 2000, to Spokane, Washington, as a Canadian representative at the International Science Olympiad.
