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Vol. 10, Issue 07
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Cougarbotics wins provincial award By Bryan Jessop
Cardinal Carter Catholic Middle School’s robotics program continues to make an impression across Ontario. After capturing first place in the Robotics Canada Challenge FIRST Lego League regional competition hosted by St. Clair College in early December, the local team took multiple honours at the Ontario Western Provincials at the University of Waterloo. Dubbed “Cougarbotics,” the team of six Grade 7 and four Grade 8 CCCMS students earned second place overall in all categories and took the Innovation Award for this year’s Ontario West competition, held over the February 9-10 weekend. The accolades were earned by the team’s invention “H2GO,” a portable showering capsule for astronauts in space, who are limited to four litres of water for hygiene purposes during their missions. The creation offers a 100 per cent water recollection rate and complies with this year’s FLL theme, “Into Orbit.” “I’m learning that making something work takes time and effort,” Cougarbotics team member Matthew Preston said of developing the team’s entry for competition. The Innovation Award was won by a Cardinal Carter team for the second consecutive year. Last year, finishing first earned the Rain Regents one of 20 spots at the Global Innovation Awards in San Jose, Calif. David Kostanjevec, who is guiding Cougarbotics along with fellow CCCMS teachers Rima Mastronardi and Ida Ricci, explained that Cougarbotics has qualified for First Lego League’s 2019 International Championship Open to be held at the University of Arkansas
The Cougarbotics team, the Cardinal Carter Catholic Middle School entry for FIRST Canada FLL’s 2018-’19 season of competition, finished second overall and took the Innovation Award at the University of Waterloo for the Ontario West Provincials Saturday, Feb. 9. The team was represented by coach Ida Ricci-Minaudo, mentors Jasmine Jacobs, Ian Waechter and Linda Pham, team members Tyson Antunes, Charlie Liebrock, Dante Mastronardi, coach David Kostanjevec, team members Alexa KennethOgah, Raegan Woodiwiss, Daesa Minaudo, Lucas Makhlouf and Matthew Preston, coach Rima Mastronardi, team members Vanessa Jacobs and Charbel Tawil and mentors Backos Boutros and Conner Lowhorn. The team has qualified to compete at the University of Arkansas in mid May, to be funded by Dominos Canada owner Mike Schlater. (Submitted Photo)
from May 16 to May 19. The event will be attended by 76 international teams, where Cougarbotics will represent Ontario. In order to fund the upcoming trip to Arkansas, the CCCMS team reached out to the community in search of financial support. In response, Mike Schlater of Domino’s Canada stepped forward and offered to cover the costs involved with the trip to this year’s ICO in Arkansas. In the meantime, the CCCMS group’s competition schedule continued over the February 24 weekend with the fourth annual Ontario Innovation Competition hosted by Seneca College’s Markham campus. Cardinal Carter was one of 18 teams to enter the event. This year, the Cardinal Carter Middle School team did not rank in one of the top
three positions necessary to advance to the Global Innovation Award Competition. “For me, I’ve noticed that making friends and learning how to better our world is better than winning or losing a competition,” explained CCCMS team member Lucas Makhlouf. Cougarbotics is made up of Grade 7 students Alexa Kenneth, Raegan Woodiwiss, Daesa Minaudo, Charbel Tawil, Charlie Librock and Dante Mastronardi and Grade 8 members Makhlouf, Tyson Antunes, Preston and Vanessa Jacobs. The team has been working on the development of H2GO since shortly after the 2018-’19 school year began, along with assistance from community partners Custom Concepts and Baymar Supply Ltd. “He’s been very supportive of the team and helping
them out with their questions,” Kostanjevec said of Baymar owner Frank Frabetta. “We owe him a huge debt of thanks.” Kostanjevec noted that Custom Concepts Machining of Leamington allowed the use of its shop space for Cougarbotics to develop
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their H2GO prototype while offering CNC machine training. “One of the things I enjoy about this journey is that it makes us think in many new ways,” noted Antunes. “For us, the true experience of winning is just having fun,” added Liebrock.
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