Chairman's Award Team 1241 Print Close 2016 Team 1241 Team Number 1241 Team Name, Corporate/University Sponsors Pratt & Whitney Canada / General Motors of Canada / Peel District School Board / CSC / City of Mississauga / Johnston Industrial Plastics Limited / Trans Canada / Templeton & Sons / Christie & Rick Hansen S.S Briefly describe the impact of the FIRST program on team participants with special emphasis on the 2015/2016 year and the preceding two to five years 1241 students impact both secondary, elementary schools and the community valuing all learners from different backgrounds With the life skills students learn, they present and network with companies to help build strong relationships impacting a culture shift of decision makers 50% of the leadership roles are taken by the females Created an evolutionary cycle where younger students in community robotics programs, Jr. FLL and FLL are mentored by FRC students who have progressed through them Describe the impact of the FIRST program on your community with special emphasis on the 2015/2016 year and the preceding two to five years Our Badge Program recognizes students for certified skills. FIRST Canada plans to expand it globally Enabled teams to acquire badges at the FLL Ontario Regional & Provincial tournaments impacting over 4000 students Our New to Country Program engages immigrants to FIRST Launched a National Library Robotics Program. Ran 56 workshops for a total of 3224 volunteer hours Our online guides for teams to implement FLL impacted 1300 primary grade children, resulting in 109 competitive FLL teams Team's innovative or creative method to spread the FIRST message Showcased robotics to the Prime Minister, Sick Kids Hospital, Ontario Science Centre, City Council, Minister of Science and Technology & FIRST Executive Advisory Board of Directors Collected money for the Syria Crisis Featured on several local newspapers and national tv Helped in developing the robotics curriculum to deliver an ESL program in China. 2 week robotics summer ESL class for 300 students. Held 4 international webinars each year Initiated National Library Program to 11 libraries Describe examples of how your team members act as role models and inspire other FIRST team members to emulate Team support system to impact and assist 91 Jr. FLL teams, 12 FLL teams and 20 FRC teams Hosted 3 Jr. FLL Expo's, 5 FLL and 5 other robotics tournaments in our school. Volunteered at over 72 community and FIRST events & amassed 40, 450 service hours Alumni Members and Parent members actively spends 100's of hours each year volunteering at Jr. FLL Expos, FLL Regional and Provincial Tournaments and FRC Regionals. Many members have also won several Volunteer of the Year Awards Describe the team's initiatives to help start or form other FRC teams Present to students in Singapore to start FRC teams. Provided facilities & resources allowing students to develop international relationships by billeting students from Team 4817 to enable them to compete Created handbooks to encourage all members to embody FIRST principles. Translated handbooks into multiple languages to help new immigrants understand FIRST Robotics. Requested by 6 other teams Created a Super Hub which provides them with resources & information on all aspects of FIRST Describe the team's initiatives to help start or form other FIRST teams (including Jr.FLL, FLL, & FTC) Built partnerships between FIRST Teams with 3 libraries in Brampton, 1 in Port Credit, Richmond Hill, Markham Started 5 Jr. FLL and 15 FLL teams with our library Created how to videos on our YouTube channel to provide online resources Held workshops to other teams & libraries to teach them how they can implement the library program Partnered with the Peel District School Board to start FLL teams. Hosted an event & presented to principals in Peel to show them how they can start a FRC team Describe the team's initiatives on assisting other FIRST teams (including Jr.FLL, FLL, FTC, & FRC) with progressing through the FIRST program
Held 106 workshops at the library to assist FLL teams in the last three years. Held workshops for teachers & provided them with resources for sustainability, we have also had conferences with principals of these schools to provide further information. Hosted FLL Qualification Regional's that facilitated 25 teams to compete in 2011, 9 in 2012, 33 in 2013 and 36 in 2014 We have supported 20 FRC rookie teams in the last four years. Ran and hosted Jr. FLL Expo's for 85 teams. Describe how your team works with other FIRST teams to serve as mentors to younger or less experienced FIRST teams (includes Jr.FLL, FLL, FTC, & FRC teams) Presented at Oakville Robotics Symposium to all teams & parents for 4 years Parent Involvement, Introduction into VEX Robotics, Rookie Tips, Mechanical Systems, CAD. Held 8 workshops in total in the past 3 years Our facility is available for FIRST team's allowing Teams 3949 & 4015 Mentors and students volunteer to hold lead positions at Quick Build.1241 supplied 56 student mentors for 4 years Held 63 workshops to students to provide information on team operations Describe your Corporate/University Sponsors A's Precision Machining Ltd. CSC GM Canada Rev Creations Inc. Pratt and Whitney Canada/UTC Johnston Industrial Plastics Limited Non Technical Assist in developing all our documentation and communication. Sponsors also provide us with opportunities to spread FIRST in the community. City of Mississauga Dreams Convention Centre Peel District School Board Trans Canada Corp. Describe the strength of your partnership with your sponsors with special emphasis on the 2015/2016 year and the preceding two to five years Held showcases to spread STEM at company events. The sponsors dedicate their time & effort towards by acting as mentors Sponsors assist our team with machining, providing access to a variety of resources & sharing their expertise To maintain the strength of our connection we invite them to our Kick Off, Bag and Tag & our annual Spring Banquet to recognize their contributions Partnership with City Council exposes city wards to FIRST programs and providing us with a practice facility Describe how your team would explain what FIRST is to someone who has never heard of it FIRST offers learning opportunities by integrating a STEM learning environment. FIRST inspires over 1 million students all around the world to learn and also develop many life skills. FIRST is an engaging experience valuing all participants and propelling them into leadership roles enhancing capacity and evolving high quality critical thinking skills in global collaborative communities to solve complex problems, all while having fun! FIRST has a goal & that is to empower future leaders. Briefly describe other matters of interest to the FIRST judges, if any 5 successful Dean's List regional winners 3 Woodie Flower winners 3 volunteer of the year award recipients from the last 2 years Invited to facilitate the Prime Minister of Canada with his presentation announcement Alumni mentors hold positions on university based committees to develop and support regional FIRST programs, co lead & run regional event planning committees at Canadian Universities Started FRC Team 1285 which increased opportunities & the breadth of the initiatives Team Captain/Student Representative that has double checked this submission. Tanvir Sra Essay Dreams are built on ambition and the desire to achieve a greater reality. Team 1241 THEORY6 Robotics was founded on a dream to educate, nurture, and cultivate the youth of today to understand the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Our goal is to ensure that every student is able to experience the essence of FIRST to become the leaders of tomorrow. Our dreams empowers students and mentors to pursue their goals to new heights in FIRST and STEM through the momentum of our success starting with one team, one dream. Team 1241 is the dream team! We are a catalyst for making dreams a reality. Team 1241 strives to empower females to help them achieve their dreams and have equal opportunity by stepping outside of their comfort zone. We find ways to instill core values in them because we truly believe in creating an inclusive environment. This philosophy is successful and has resulted in 50% of our leadership roles being held by female students for the past 3 years. We provide a gateway to experience STEM related opportunities to succeed in post secondary education. Since 2013, we have competed at the Bloomfield Hills All Girls Competition in Michigan. This year, our team competed as an all girls team at the Stemley Cup Competition in Hamilton, Ontario and made it to the semi finals. To date, we have been able to see the different strengths the female students held on the technical aspect. Hisha has showcased how her skills were essential to the growth of herself as an individual and also in the success of the team by holding a key role on the drive team. Currently, the strengths of the females on the team have enabled them to take on many new opportunities which were
once too intimidating to pursue. Team 1241 is making the dream of our female students come true by finding new ways to create an inclusive and equal environment. Our dream continued into creating the birth of FRC Team 1285 within our school in 2013. This second team addressed the high demand at our school by receiving 100+ applications in order to be a part of the robotics program. We partner our senior students with the junior students to hold weekly workshops to provide their insight, experience, and knowledge on FIRST and the team. The dream team has expanded many initiatives that have benefited many of our students just like Jatan who has grown immensely. His FIRST experience started when Team 1241 branched out to our feeder schools and started an FLL team within his middle school. We enabled Jatan to not only participate in FLL and also mentored FLL when he reached high school. Since his rookie year, he shadowed the senior students and enabled him to gain a better understanding of FRC. Jatan held key roles on the team since his rookie year which includes the human player position on the World Championship drive team in 2013, the driver's position and design sub team lead. With the opportunity and diversity of roles on our team, students like him are able to reach their full potential and eventually formulate new dreams. This displays our belief in making each student's experience their own. Team 1241 aspires to create a world where students are able to be recognized and certified for skills and expertise they obtain through the FIRST program. We have created the Badge Program which allows individuals to celebrate their achievements and acquire tangible evidence of their growth and skills developed through the program. This program recognizes skills that are based on the Ministry of Education's curriculum standards and FIRST. Last year we partnered with FIRST Canada to allow for expansion on both a national and global level. At the FLL Ontario Provincial tournaments over 800 students earned badges. This year, the program grew to all the Ontario Regional and Provincial tournaments which impacted over 4000 students. Currently we are working with FIRST towards introducing badges for FRC where students would undergo testing. We are making the dream of FIRST, students and mentors come true by providing everyone with the opportunity to be recognized for the achievements they have gained through the program. Our team believes that it is important that a child should be exposed to a STEM learning environment at an early age. We aspire to nurture and cultivate young minds to get excited about STEM and are providing children with a pathway to achieve great things. We initiated a Library Program in 2012 aimed at children aged 5 12 to teach them about the fundamental learning skills of STEM and robotics. Students from our team have changed the dynamics of the library by presenting, coaching and mentoring children. We have noticed that after starting our Jr. FLL and FLL teams in partnership with the library, the children have expressed their dreams to become scientists, astronauts, and even engineers as early as the age of 5. When we first initiated this program, we started off with enough interest to build 2 FLL teams and now, due to the growth of our program, we have built 15 FLL teams over the past 4 years. We have been able to see the impact on the lives we create. Ryan, who was once introduced to robotics through our library workshops, has now completed 2 years in Jr. FLL and 2 years on our community FLL team. We have seen Ryan evolve and change into a more independent and well rounded individual. We truly believe each and every individual has the capacity of reaching their full potential and in motivating individuals to want to move on to bigger and better things. We are changing the community around us by building a FIRST culture where individuals are more technologically conscious of the world around them. By also introducing FLL and Jr. FLL to our feeder schools, we have been able to create an Evolutionary Cycle where our team is able to introduce a passion for FIRST in children even before they enter our program. From this, we have seen students grow, and develop even greater dreams and achieve great things by sparking a fire in them at a young age. As founders of this easily accessible to everyone program at local public libraries, we now work collaboratively with FIRST Canada and partner libraries. We support and mentor them to enable multiple communities to deliver and undergo the FIRST Robotics experience. We have a range from 1241 developed "How To" guides, to continuous workshops and webinars, this initiative has grown across 11 libraries in Ontario and shows no sign of slowing down with growing interest from 8 other libraries. We have shifted the culture by partnering with decision makers to see them seeking to grow FIRST into an internationally renowned program. Essay page 2 We believe in the power of diversity and the ability it has to create an impact on the world around us. The New to Country (NTC) program is an initiative to allow immigrants to gain a sense of community and belonging. We have produced multi language handbooks to parents to better understand our role in helping them and their children. NTC families are given opportunities to be able to live out their dream in a new country and culture and where there are no boundaries or limits at what they can achieve. Students on our team that have immigrated from different parts of the world have been put on a guided path and achieved many successes. Our alumni mentor, Rajiv has been impacted through this program. Since joining Team 1241 in his grade 10 year, we have provided him with the right tools and guidance to thrive and has exhibited huge accomplishments. He started off as a quiet, reserved student but with the help from his peers and encouragement from the team, he began mentoring FLL and running our Library Workshops. He has already grown exponentially since going into a post secondary field in engineering and from networking and being so involved in the FIRST world, he has been granted the opportunity to be a FIRST Canada Media Representative and has become an entrepreneur in the technology and media field. Rajiv is a prime example of how we believe in the power of diversity and how it is an integral part of anything one does because there could be so much talent and potential in any one individual but you must take the time to assess and bring out the best in everyone. For the future of this program, we are currently working on a partnership with the Welcome Centre of the Peel Region to integrate new immigrants in Peel. Team 1241 is facilitating rookie and veteran teams by being one of the three super hubs across Ontario. The super hub assists all FIRST teams in all aspects of the program. In the past, Team 1241 has provided similar assistance, "Geek Squad" during competition season at regionals since 2010. We provide our facility for teams to ship their robot to from
locations around the world. We have facilitated teams from North Bay, Mexico, and partnered with a team from Singapore to billet them in order to come to Canada to compete. For the past 4 years we have been participating in Quick Build where we provide our students and mentors to assist rookie teams in building their drive trains on Kick Off. We have a growing amount of mentors, students, and parents who continuously volunteer at many FRC and FLL competitions including Jr. FLL expos who work tirelessly to provide help in any shape or form. Dreams are what shape and motivate an individual. They are the driving force that allows an individual to grow, have a vision, dream, or even a passion which motivates them to accomplish their goals. Setting objectives gives an individual a purpose, Team 1241's dream is create a culture of STEM consciousness and instill the values of FIRST into every individual we meet. One dream can inspire other individual dreams. Over the course of accomplishing ones dream, difficulties and conflicts can occur; THEORY6 believes that if you are truly passionate about something, never give up. We strive to help others dreams come true while making the FIRST dream come true. 2016 Team 1241 Picture 1 2016 Team 1241 Picture 2
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