Assumption Collegiate High School Robotics Team poses with WEtech Alliance’s Irek Kusmierczyk at the Greater Toronto Regional held in Mississauga March 28th – April 1, 2013.

The robotics team from Assumption Collegiate High School is going to the World Championships in St. Louis.

In its very first season, the rookie team from Assumption competed this past weekend in the Greater Toronto Regional held in Mississauga. In the Hershey Centre packed with 1,200 students, Assumption beat out 40 other teams from as far away as Singapore to reach the finals of the regional tournament and thus qualify for the World Championships.
The World Championship is held at the Edward Jones Dome and attracts 15,000 participants and spectators from around the world in what is known as the Superbowl of Smarts.
FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, and it is a prestigious international robotics competition sponsored by companies such as Boeing, Ford, Chrysler, Boston Scientific, Google, Rockwell Automation and others.
Each year about 3,000 high schools compete by building man-sized robots tough enough to crash-and-bash in an arena, but complex enough-for example-to pick up a basketball and shoot a three-point shot or climb a ten-foot steel pyramid.
Windsor sent four teams to the Greater Toronto Regional including three “rookie teams” from Assumption H.S., Maranatha Christian Academy, and St. Anne’s High School.  The veteran team from Sandwich Secondary School reached the playoffs but were knocked out early.
WEtech Alliance, with support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, is spearheading the expansion of the FIRST Robotics program in Windsor and Essex County.
“We are cultivating the next generation of engineers and innovators,” says Dr. Irek Kusmierczyk, Program Manager of WEtech Alliance, who has grown the program in the region.
“This program leads young people onto promising career paths in science, technology and the skilled trades,” says Karen Behune Plunkett, President and CEO of WEtech Alliance.
Media Contact:
Dr. Irek Kusmierczyk, PhD
Program Manager
WEtech Alliance
C: 519.990.3132
E: ikusmierczyk@wetech-alliance.com