Gravenhurst High School’s Gryphtech Robotics team are bringing home another trophy after making the finals at the North Bay District event this past weekend.
“The kids worked hard and joyfully from 10 a.m. Friday to 10 p.m. Sunday after months of preparation,” said Bill Bagshaw, lead mentor for the Gryphtech team.
“Of the 25 teams attending, we were very excited to be among the six to take home medals.”
Bagshaw said that the small team, consisting of only 5 students and 3 mentors, ran into many system failures and technical problems with their robot during the qualification matches at the event, but got back up and dusted themselves off each time on the way to the finals.
These robot troubles saw the team end up in 23rd going into the playoff alliance selection. The alliance selection is a process where the top eight teams select who they want to compete alongside during the playoff rounds. After many rounds of selection, Gryphtech found themselves on Alliance 1 with Team 610 – Crescent Coyotes from Toronto and Team 10015 – Bubbles from Aurora.
“Getting chosen to be the third team on the top alliance was such a shock,” explained Grade 12 student Gwen Smith. “It was more than we ever expected with our little team of five at a competition where most teams had well over 20 or 30 members.”
Smith said that the team had been focusing on small wins and uplifting each other throughout the weekend, so getting to work with the teams in their alliance was enlightening.
“We left North Bay with our minds and hearts full of information and appreciation.”
For Grade 11 student Colton Courville, being an event finalist in North Bay was more than just a medal, it was proof that all the hard work since the beginning of the season had paid off.
“We managed to build a working robot in less than three months, meeting only four and a half total hours a week,” Courville explained.
“As a senior member on the team, I’m ecstatic that we are still able to be competitive, despite losing several extremely valuable team members over the two years since I joined.”
Courville says that both the Gryphtech Robotics team and the FIRST Robotics organization as a whole have been an amazing addition to his life.
“I love being part of this program. We get to have fun building and driving robots, while also building crucial life skills and making friends both within the school community and from across Ontario. This year is my first year as our team’s driver, and I love being behind the barrier looking right at the field knowing I’m directly influencing the outcome of the match.”
The Gryphtech team will be back in action on March 27-29 at the Georgian College District event in Barrie, where they will be working hard to ensure another successful competition weekend.
