Robotics

Co-presented by Navigate and NIC, robot summer camps allow students, aged 9 to 12, to explore coding and robotics while learning vital science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills.

Project Dates: July 2016 – 2019

Funding Amount: $169,750

Students Hired: 3

The kids are learning great skills – valuable skills they can take into the future. It’s a wonderful opportunity.

Maureen Vancoughnett, 2018 participant parent

View all NIC's Youth Academy camps

Project Summary

Over 700 students have had the opportunity to build, program and control Lego robots over the past three summers. Students participated in the camps from Port Alberni, the Comox Valley, Port Hardy, Campbell River, Tofino, Ucluelet and new this year, Gold River.

Students learned vital science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills, required for many careers. We also expanded on these valuable STEM skills by offering two additional new technology camps called the Tech Explorers Camp.

Project Outcomes

Total number of student participants each year:

Instructors

Andrew Gair, Lego Robotics Instructor

Andrew is currently studying Computer Science at VIU, he has competed at several international VEX robotics tournaments over the past few years and has won several awards in the process. Andrew's first robotics course was in grade 8 and used Lego Mindstorms robots.

Mitchell Gair, Lego Robotics Instructor

Mitchell Gair has been a robotics instructor with NIC Robotics summer camps for three years and is very enthusiastic about expanding the reach and the complexity of these camps. His history in Robotics didn't begin until he began to compete in Vex Robotics competitions in grade 11. He is currently studying Mathematics and Computing Science at Vancouver Island University as a full time student.

Meiko Matsumoto, Tech Explorers Instructor

Teagan Parkin, Student Assistant

Teagan Parkin is a first-year science student at NIC in UVic Dual Admission. She has been involved in robotics for 6 years and competed multiple times at the provincial level. She enjoys passing her love of STEM onto the next generation, as her teachers did for her.