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Burgeoning engineers from Mississauga's after-school program Zebra Robotics may be living proof that learning can be fun. Two teams, aged 9-13, took in some valu- able coding and programming skills while playing with Lego building blocks at recent competitions. After winning regional First Lego League tournaments at Rick Hansen and Fletch- er's Meadows secondary schools late last month, the Robo Recons and Robo Raptors have moved on to a provincial competition in January at the University of Waterloo. The Raptors team includes 12-year-old Dustin Leitzke, who attends Grade 7 at Holy Cross School in Georgetown. Dustin has also been attending robotics classes on Saturdays at Zebra Robotics for almost two years; eight of the 10 kids on his team have been working together since March 2014. Zebra founder Satish Thiyagarajan ex- plained that the Lego showdowns are held in partnership with companies such as 3M and Rockwell Automation (locally) and take place across the globe, totalling about 20,000 participants. Some 35 teams were at the recent region- al events held at Rick Hansen and Fletcher's Meadows. The competition was broken down into three parts, and youngsters were given two and a half minutes to complete challenges with their Lego robot. "The robot has to work independently without using the remote control to com- plete the challenges," said Thiyagarajan, who has a background in engineering himself. He added that participants are also judged on presentation and teamwork. "They are doing things that what could set them up to get into a robotics engineer- ing program or mechanical engineering," he said of the takeaways. The two Peel squads will be among 40 to 50 teams competing in the First Lego League provincials next month. Visit zebrarobotics.com to learn more about the after-school program. Thursday, January 7, 2016 - The IFP - H alton H ills - w w w .theifp.ca Page 25 The Directors of the Georgeto wn Bread Basket want to send out a Big Thank-You to the community for their overwhelming generous response to support the food bank over this past year. Items needed most thIs month • Canned Pasta • Canned Fruit • Juice • Canned Vegetables • Canned Meat • Cookies • Cereal • Diapers - All Sizes Except 3 55 Sinclair • Unit 12 • 905-873-3368 www.GeorgetownBreadBasket.ca Dr. Keith DaSilva Specialized dentistry for infants, children, teenagers and all patients with special needs New Patients Welcome! 13219 15 Sideroad, Georgetown 905-877-0900 Fax 905-877-0500 No referral necessary. 905-510-9739 wayne@wisecracks.com www.Ha l t onWi s eC r a c k s . c om • Crack Injection Repair Specialist •Wise Dry Interior Drain Systems • Lifetime Fully TransferrableWarranty • Sump Pump Renewel Installations Professional, Cost Effective Solutions for Wet Basements Leaky Basement? Call Us! . ..since 1991 Winter discount $50 discount on the 1st foundation crack and 10% any job over a $1000. COMMUNITY Holy Cross student attending robotics tournament this month Holy Cross Grade 7 student Dustin Leitzke is part of Robo Raptors, a robotics team that has qualified for a provincial competition at the University of Waterloo in January. Submitted Photo