Bishop Pinkham Robotics wins Second Place at FTC Alberta/BC competition in Edmonton

It's been exactly a year since my last post. To say that I have been very busy is an understatement, but I have great news that I need to share with everybody. Our Robotics Team , "Technar" ( team 12055 at FTC Alberta) got the Second Place last weekend in Edmonton in the Alberta-British Columbia competition. 

The first place was for a BC team which virtually turns ours as the best team in Alberta. Yay!

I couldn't be prouder and happier about this Team that has showed their talent, enthusiasm, commitment and teamwork throughout these months. 

We started back in September with a group of 30 grade 8 and 9 students. We have been meeting on a weekly basis ( more than that in the last weeks) guided by Mr Wilson, Engineering and Robotics Teacher from Ernest Manning High School. Mr Wilson has participated in the competition before and has lots of experience so his help has been crucial for our team. 

Our team had lots of fun in Edmonton. We had a great start getting the 5th place which allowed us to go to the finals. We got Second in the final and not only got the Silver medal but also got a special judges' prize as best rookie team for their " Team spirit, Enthusiasm, a great gasp of the Science and Engineering aspect of the challenge and Gracious Professionalism". Wow! What an amazing job Team! That is really awesome! Fortunately parents and friends were able to watch the competition and participate in the team accomplishments. They had lots of fun, it was truly a  great experience.

Back in Calgary, we are looking forward to continue improving our robot and looking for wonderful sponsors that want to bring this team to the next level. There are still other tournaments we want to attend to test our robot.

Personally, I couldn't be happier about the team and their very well deserved recognition. I had experience with "Lego Mindstorms", but had never participated in the FTC competition. It has been a fascinating journey as a teacher to witness, first hand , how they apply what they learn in Science and Math in a meaningful and entertaining way. They have been engaged since the very first moment in the process, designing, modifying, prototyping, planing together and journaling every single day our club met.
We got our "TETRIXrobotics" box back in October with all the necessary pieces to build a robot and a book with instructions for the basic robot. Then they had to decide how they wanted to score points for this year's challenge #velocityvortex, and based on that, they started to build the basic robot and then the extensions to collect and launch balls and push the beacons. In the process, every day they recorded the goals and notes of the day in our engineering journal.
There have been moments of struggle but everyone got together to pull it off. Ours is one of the biggest teams with 6 girls and 9 boys. Everybody with different talents, but all equally important. It was interesting to see how they naturally engaged in different jobs within the team. Some kids were more involved with the programming, other with the mechanics, others with the thinking- problem solving piece, others with the design, the rules, driving the robot, strategizing...etc etc which is how in real life teams work. I am a strong believer of STEM projects and integrating subjects as much as possible. With this project I think we have achieved both goals and I couldn't be happier. It's been a pleasure to coach you .Way to go team!

Last but not least, I also want to thank parents, School Administration and Mr Wilson for your continued support. This would have been impossible without you!

                                            The Robotics Team at Bishop Pinkham School

This video ( sorry, but the quality is not great) is a short summary of the competition and award ceremony

#STEM #yycbe #FTCAlberta #velocityvortex #TETRIXrobotics