Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary School's robotics team will be taking a trip to Houston, Texas next week for a World Championship competition.
For the second year in a row and the third time in school history, Holy Trinity's Robotics Team 3161 has qualified for the FIRST Championship robotics competition.
The competition will be held this year at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. Last year, the competition saw around 50,000 in attendance from over 50 countries.
The FIRST Championship, organized by the non-profit organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), is an annual event for youth robotics, bringing together participants from around the world in a celebration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Entry and progression to the FIRST Championship is contingent upon individual program qualifications, which for Team 3161 meant winning the Engineering Inspiration Award for the province which automatically qualified them for Houston after already holding several titles this season.
Approximately 25 team members from Holy Trinity will be going to Houston next week from April 17-20.
"On those days, the first two days are for preparation," said Team 3161 co-captain Sebastian Nava. "They set up what we call the 'pits,' which is a space for teams to repair their robot and rest between matches, the 18th and 19th are days for qualification matches."
According to Nava, the tournament follows an automatically generated schedule which is randomized and has teams playing in alliances of three against three.
Based on the performances throughout those two days, teams will be ranked.
Teams will then be formed to enter the playoffs and based on those results, a winner will be determined.
Nava attributed much of the success of Team 3161 this year to the team's social media presence and advocating "FIRST core values."
Reflecting on the season so far, other team members have expressed it's been something special.
“Being a member of this robotics team has truly been transformative for me. The knowledge and skills I've acquired is far beyond what I ever imagined possible within a classroom setting," said Tiwi, a member of Team 3161.
"It’s somewhere I can always turn to where I’m not all that scared to be myself,” said Julia, another Team 3161 member.