Chelsea Powrie
It’s not your average after-school club.
A group of about 20 Penticton teens from Penticton Secondary School and Princess Margaret Secondary School are building a robot for a prestigious national robotics competition in Victoria coming up in March.
Nicola Thompson, 16, got the ball rolling in creating the team when she learned about the FIRST Robotics competition two years ago.
“I looked it up and was like wow, that sounds really cool,” Thompson explained.
But she discovered the closest team was in the United States.
“So I thought, why don’t I just start a team?”
Two years later, that dream has been realized. Thompson and her peers meet several times a week at Princess Margaret Secondary to work on their robot, which is remote controlled and will, when complete, be able to accomplish a number of tasks set by the FIRST Robotics competition.
“All the teams are going to come together and then each one is going to compete individually. It’s going to be throwing balls into holes, and it’s going to be spinning this wheel to see if it can land on this particular spot, and it’s going to be hanging itself up on this bar, and whichever one can balance it gets extra points for that too,” Thompson said.
The robot is coming along nicely, able to zoom along the floor but missing add-ons like an arm that will help them complete their competition tasks.
But the trip to Victoria in early March for the competition doesn’t come cheap, so the team is open to donations to ensure they can do their best.
Donations above and beyond what is needed for travel, lodging and expenses for the competition this year will be banked to ensure the program moves forward in future years.
“It’s trying to bring in all different types of facets of education, and show you how there is a correlation between it,” instructor Tyler Legare explained. “Bringing all different types of students together, I think it’s all about unity, working toward the same goal.”
The kids head to Victoria for the competition beginning March 4. Anyone interested in donating can contact Tyler Legare by email at [email protected]