By Dwayne Verhey
The Shrimpy Sharks achieved 200 points in North Bay but actually managed 240 points in their best practice round. All programming and execution must be done by the students – mentors are not allowed to even touch the robot or programming computer at the tournament.
The HHS Hoya Robotics Team was founded in 2012 by HHS teacher Ian McTavish, supported by members of the community, and competes as Team 4152 against Grades 9 to 12 level of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition Of Science and Technology), a global nonprofit organization promoting STEM learning through cooperative competition of student teams building robots. Since then, the program has branched out to include a full high school credit course. The Hoyas have helped other TLDSB high schools launch their own programs, including Bracebridge, Gravenhurst, and Fenlon Falls. They won the provincial championship in 2022 and have a reputation in the FIRST community as both a worthy competitor and a willing mentor. In addition to mentoring local FIRST Lego League (FLL) challenge teams, they hosted FLL tournaments in both 2018 and 2019.
The Huntsville FLL teams mentioned are the Huntsville Voyageurs (Team 68635) and the Shrimpy Sharks (Team 69135). Nancy Topps is the nominal Lead Mentor of the Voyageurs, with the able assistance of HHS teacher Kirsten Otis. Dwayne Verhey is the nominal Lead Mentor of the Shrimpy Sharks and was, in turn, supported by Hoya alumni Samuel Topps. HHS student mentors included Reuben, Jaccob, Cameron, Elsa, Ryan, and Allison. In reality, both teams worked closely together with all mentors, bringing skill sets in support of both teams.
The estimated cost of starting a FLL team from scratch and entering a tournament is approximately $1,600 per team. In addition to funding provided by Call of the Wild and Sixteen Construction, the Huntsville group received financial support in the form of a start-up grant from FIRST, use of both equipment and space from HHS, a significant donation from a private citizen, use of space in Trinity United Church and a donation from North Bay Team 1305, who covered the tournament entry fee for both our teams.
The teams will be holding a final meeting to demonstrate our robots and celebrate our season on Wednesday, December 18th, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the HHS cafeteria.
The group of young aspiring engineers includes kids from every Huntsville elementary school from both public and separate school boards and even one from Emsdale. Despite the short time frame, disparate backgrounds, and limited resources, one of the teams ranked as high as 7th out of the 21 teams attending the North Bay event.
“Going forward, our small group can’t do it all,” according to Mrs. Topps. “There’s just too much demand. We’d like to host training seminars in the spring, helping parents and teachers launch or re-launch school teams by passing on our experience of the process, from the administration aspects to the actual building and programming of the robots themselves.”
The groups’ immediate plan after the Christmas break is to take their robots to each child’s school, allowing the team members to show their teachers and peers what they accomplished. Parents and community members who are interested in starting their own Lego Robotics team and would like to attend spring training are invited to contact Nancy Topps at [email protected].
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