Impact and Success at the FLL Challenge Mississauga Qualifying Tournament at HNMCS
Saturday, November 25, 2023, marked an extraordinary day of endless creativity for over 100 young minds as they attended the FIRST Lego League Challenge Mississauga Qualifying Tournament. Sponsored by FIRST Robotics Canada, and hosted by HNMCS Robotics, FRC Team 7659, this event brought together amazing engineers, programmers, and problem solvers for a day of fun activities and nail-biting competition.
The event consisted of 48 robot competition rounds, where teams’ robots ran autonomous programs within a 2.5 minute timeframe to complete as many missions as possible. In addition to teams gathering points in their official robot rounds, they were also judged on their robot design that demonstrated iterative engineering skills; their core values of teamwork, inclusion, discovery, impact innovation and fun; and their innovation project where they presented a solution to an existing problem in the world.
A highlight of the event was the attendance of some esteemed guests including the Acting Mayor of Mississauga, Chris Fonseca, who is a passionate advocate for STEAM education. In her address, she encouraged the young minds and emphasised the importance of technology and creativity in the future.
We also welcomed high profile guests from FIRST Robotics Canada including Vice President Arti Javeri, Senior Mentor Sarah Sils and Annika Pint who is the FIRST Lego League Challenge Program Manager.
HNMCS Robotics has grown from 2 girls at its inception, to a powerhouse team of over 40 girls in the senior school. Founding member Kasthuri Thambipillai ‘17 together with Fayble Shawera ‘21 and Julia Arturi ‘22 were judges and leads at the event.
Shadowing Fayble was a transformative experience that was incredibly inspiring. She is a strong character and is a perfect example of the person I would like to be in the future.
The HNMCS Robostars, our Middle School competitive robotics team, has had an excellent start to their season. The girls worked tirelessly throughout the fall, perfecting their Lego robot and coding it to complete several different tasks. They also created a unique idea, incorporating elements of STEM and the Arts, to renovate some of the unused lockers in the hallway into display cases capable of showcasing both 3D and digital art pieces. They were rewarded for this creative project idea by winning the Innovation Award at the Mississauga Qualifying tournament. In addition, the girls have qualified to compete at the FIRST Lego League Provincial Championships in January! Congratulations to team members Samantha ‘28, Ella ‘28, Nina ‘28, Isabel ‘28, Maya ‘29 and Veronica ‘29.
In the spirit of FIRST Robotics' mission to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, the FIRST Lego League Tournament 2023 stands as a shining example of the incredible potential that lies within the minds of our youth. As these young participants continue to explore, create, and innovate, the future of STEAM looks brighter than ever, and we can’t wait to see them all again next year!
This year the event was live streamed on our YouTube channel thereby providing the opportunity to reach a global audience. For those who missed the live action, you can catch the excitement by visiting the livestream links:
- Y. Jeon '25
