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FIRST Robotics
FIRST Robotic League
Join us in congratulating our 2007-2008 S.W.A.T 771 Robotics Team for another successful year.
» 2008 Newsletter Article (196kb)
FIRST Robotics is a remarkable program that challenges girls to design and build a robot and then compete against other schools in a series of challenges. SMLS was the only all-girls team at the FIRST Canadian Robotics competition in 2001. The SMLS team won the gold medal at the Waterloo Regional Competition at the University of Waterloo. At the Greater Toronto Regional, the team became the first female team in the history of FIRST to win the prestigious Chairman's Award. They went on to attend the FIRST International Competition in Atlanta, Georgia.
Congratulations to our St. Mildred's Women Advancing Technology (S.W.A.T) 771
Robotics Team!
Our FIRST Robotics team - S.W.A.T - had another successful year in 2007-2008. In the Waterloo Regionals, we reached the semi-finals out of 30 teams. At the Greater Toronto Regional, we had one of our best rankings when our 'Mildread VII' robot reached the quarterfinals, competing against 66 teams from across North America
The History of FIRST at SMLS
In 2000 when two Millies expressed an interest in building a robot, the School identified the FIRST program as an opportunity for our students to learn and compete on an international scale. FIRST is a not-for-profit organization that aspires to make science, math, engineering and technology as cool for kids as sports are today. Founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway Human Transporter, FIRST operates robot competitions for high school and elementary school students.
In 2000, the SMLS team, S.W.A.T was one of two all-female teams in the Canadian national competition at Mississauga's Hershey Centre. The S.W.A.T team won the Daimler-Chrysler Team Spirit Award and placed well in the competition with their simple but very effective robot, MILDREAD.
The success of the SMLS FIRST Program continues to build, and the team's mantra - "We Can Do Anything" - is reinforced each time they work together.