The GISS Cyber Scorpions robotics team won most of their matches at the FIRST Robotics Canadian Pacific Regional competition in Victoria from March 15 through 17, but not quite enough to qualify for world competition in Houston, Texas.
The team placed third overall, with the drive crew of Thomas Boland, Alex Delaney, Connor Howe and Sebastian Scurtescu playing particularly well. However, they were defeated in the semi-finals. GISS played 12 matches total at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, with a record of 10 wins, two losses and zero ties.
“It was an incredible three days,” said Rachel FitzZaland, a teacher and mentor for the team in an email. “We loved watching our students rise to challenges and behave graciously under extremely stressful circumstances. Building a robot is just one of the many skills these students have mastered.”
The Cyber Scorpions also earned the competition’s Gracious Professionalism Award from among 32 participating teams.
“They were just so excited about how well they had done,” said FitzZaland. “They had no regrets, which was wonderful.”
GISS Cyber Scorpions members are Thomas Boland, Alex Delaney, Sebastian Scurtescu, Connor Howe, Haydn Perry, Cohen ter Heide, Noah Jacobsen, Duncan Bucknum, Luke Thomas, Noel Nielsen, Cyrus Andress, Graeme Dow, Jaysen Williams Peel, Hannah Lawson and Jonathan Kiss. They were also assisted by mentors from Salt Spring: Greg Slakov, Doug Chapman, Kenn Danner, Lochinvar Roome, Dan Perry, Roland Kerr, Brad Bunyan, Brien Anderson, Curtis Horsburgh and FitzZaland.
For more on this story, see the March 21, 2018 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.