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A8 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday February 28, 2001 RO BO T W ARS W OSS entry represents Halton in Canada-w ide competition By Wilma Blokhuis BEAVER FOCUS EDITOR Photo by Barrie Erskine Matt Hilson and Jazz Virk work on a robot at White Oaks north campus. Separate school renovations set for March Break Renovation work on four Halton Catholic elemen tary schools will start when students head off for March break. Halton Catholic District School Board trustees gave the official nod to over $5.5 million in renovation work to be done on older schools throughout the region. Oakville's St. John school will be getting a $370,000 alteration that will convert three standard classrooms into a science room, an art room and associated storage rooms. St. Mark school in Burlington will enjoy a similar $440,000 alteration, while Holy Rosary school in Burlington will receive a $2.4-million addition and upgrade. The Holy Rosary project will add seven permanent classrooms to replace six portables on the school site. It will also create science, art and music rooms and upgrade mechanical and electrical systems in the school. In Milton, Our Lady of Victory school will receive a $2.4-million renovation that will add junior and senior kindergarten classrooms and play areas, create art and science rooms, and add a meeting room, staff workroom and storage space. Improvements will also be made to the school site will be made to deal with traffic issues. All construction is expected to begin during the March break, continue throughout the remainder of the school year and summer, and be completed by the time students return in September. A contraption is under construction at White Oaks Secondary School (WOSS) that resembles an army tank. It sits on wooden wheels and treads made from a used tire cut up into strips. On top of its platform sits a `ballista' cat apult, or slingshot, that resembles the gun. This downsized piece of military equipment is designed to compete in a biathlon. Powered by batteries, it is to ride an obstacle course over one step and two hills, then fire six balls - at least four hit ting a target - in competition. The machine, built by 27 Grade 11 to OAC students, will be the school's sec ond entry in the Canada First Robotics competition. The WOSS robot will be Halton's only entry. "We're a green team," says manufac turing supervising teacher mentor Chris Arnold of his environmentally con science students. Materials being used to built this robot include a used bicycle chain, surgical tubing, small used oil con tainers, and old drawer slides, among other recycled parts. The other two teacher-mentors are Paul McManus, electrical mechanical, and Dale Andrews, video. The five student leaders are Julie Prasad, Rupinder Virk, Grant Harrower, Scott Verbeek and Cathy McLeod. The remaining 22 students are Michael Cahley, Craig Chambers, Steve Condie, Adam Dixon, Jen Dixon, Navjeet Ghuman, Mike Haas, Rob Harrower, Matt Hilson, Craig Johnson, Kohilal Kurunmathan, Mark Lowell, Karan Mehta, Kevin Neibert, Robi Prasad, Jason Rogers, Andrew Ruminski, Gaurav Thakore, Jazz Virk, Gordon Vuong, Brett Weir and Kim Wong. The competition will be held at Centennial College in Scarborough this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. WOSS will be competing against 28 teams from across Canada. "Last year, we placed fifth in our first ever competition," said Arnold. "We hope to improve on our standing, and if not, have just as much fun as we did last year." Arnold credits the student with com ing up with the design for "this beast from the east." The students have also come up with a name for their team. The Wyvems - and are also creating a baby dragon mascot, and a website, w w w .w o ssw v v e m s.c o m In addition, the students must produce a video of the robot's production and function, and a binder to document its conception from start to finish. And, as part of the competition, a panel of engineers will interview the stu dents. "We started planning last December," said Gordon Vuong, one of the participat ing students. "Then, on Jan. 6 all of the teams went to the competition's kick-off in Scarborough, where we learned this year's theme would be biathlon," he said, adding sports is the central theme of Canada First. "Our robot will have to cross two pseudo moguls (the step and two hills) and then fire six balls in a time trial," explained Vuong. "The aim is to hit four targets. If we hit the first three, 15 sec onds is added to the competitors' teams, and if we hit four targets, then we'll have immunity." Each team will be given two minutes. Vuong, a Shad Valley participant last summer representing WOSS, said the Canada First Robotics Competition has partnered with Shad International in an effort to extend its summer scientific and entrepreneurial program into the high school curriculum. "Our student team is an extension of the Shad Valley pro gram," said Vuong. The school's participation in the robot competition is backed by six sponsors including the Halton District School Board and Ford of Canada, explains Arnold, adding it will become part of FAMS next year at WOSS. FAMS is the Ford Academy of Manufacturing Sciences program, sponsored by the auto mobile manufacturer. "It's a two-year specialized program dealing with all aspects of manufactur ing," explained Arnold, "and all of the students who complete FAMS can go directly into an apprenticeship program or they can go to university." 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