Lo-Ellen Robotics Team Garners More Awards – Ready for International Event

Among the Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School Team members are front row, from left,  Alain Richard, John Hick, Kelly Levesque, Kay-Sea Taylor, Paresh Shetty; second row, from left, Edmund Noble, Brent Perry, Colin Roos, and Matteo Neville; third row, from left,  Ellen Arteca, Shuhao Wu, Amith Reddy and Pat Foran; and top row, from left, Dan Monti, Dalton Milford and Kayla Robin.

The Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School Robotics Team competed in the Greater Toronto Regional West FIRST Robotics Competition in Mississauga this past weekend and received two more honours – Rookie Inspiration Award and Highest Rookie Seed Award.

This was their second regional event in as many weeks. The team won three awards at a regional event in Waterloo, including the Rookie All-Star Award, the Highest Rookie Seed Award and the Coopertition Award. Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School looks forward to competing at the World Championships in St. Louis on April 25 to 28, 2012. 

“Robot 4069 competed against a larger number of robots in Mississauga and managed to finish in 9th place out of a field of 55 after qualification rounds,” said teacher Dan Monti.  “Again, this was the best showing out of 16 rookie teams at the event.” 

The FIRST Robotics Competition brings together more than 250,000 students from 23 countries in a showcase For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST).

High-school students team up with the world’s best technology companies to design, build and program impressive robots from scratch. They have six weeks to finish the task. The 5-foot tall, 120 pound robots perform prescribed tasks against each other, in high intensity robo-sports.

The events combine the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology, exposing students to real-world engineering. Volunteer professional mentors lend their time and talents to guide each team. The Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School Team is being guided by Hatch.

“Rainbow District School Board congratulates Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School and extends best wishes to the entire Robotics Team as it gets ready to compete among the best in the world,” said Board Chair Doreen Dewar. “We commend the students, their teacher, their mentors and the star of the show – Robot 4069 – which is a tribute to their initiative and innovation.”

“We are proud of our students and their mentors for their outstanding showing on a provincial level,” said Principal Craig Runciman. “Under the leadership of teacher Dan Monti, they achieved impressive results in a very short period of time, demonstrating skill, knowledge, co-operation and creativity.”

“Our success would not have been possible without our sponsors who believed in us and provided financial and mentorship support,” said teacher Dan Monti. “We welcome the opportunity to promote Rainbow Schools at local, national and international levels with the support of our sponsors.”

The team thanks Platinum Sponsor HATCH; Gold Sponsors FIRST, Xstrata, Laurentian Business Products and the Province of Ontario; Silver Sponsors Canadian Space Agency and Fastenal; and Bronze Sponsors Professional Engineers of Ontario, Laurentian University, the Canadian Institute of Mining and Ionic Engineering Limited.

The Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School Robotics Team includes students Nyle Anderson, Ellen Arteca, Cayden Cole, Sierra Gagnon, Cody Hartwick, John Hick, Zack Ireland, Kirk Lee, Dalton Milford, Matteo Neville, Edmund Noble, Evan Nurmikivi, Tarak Patel, Amith Reddy, Colin Roos, Jacob Smith, Joshua Storey, Emily Warner, Xavier Wong and Shuhao Wu (Team Captain); teacher mentors Giancarlo Chiarot, Pat Foran, Rob Gruhl, Fiona Lawrence and Dan Monti; and engineering mentors, Alain Richard of Bestech, Kayla Robin of Vale, Kay-Sea Taylor of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine as well as Jason Jain, Brent Perry, Hinkel Yeung, Kelly Levesque and Paresh Shetty of Hatch.

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Media Contact:

Craig Runciman, Principal, Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School,
Rainbow District School Board, 705-522-2320.