Salisbury Composite High has three teams competing in the FIRST Tech Challenge Northern Alberta Tournament—an event being hosted at the school this year.

Sherwood Park, AB. — Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) students are leveling up their skills for the FIRST Tech Challenge Northern Alberta Tournament, a robotics competition being hosted at Salisbury Composite High and presented by Dow Chemical. “Preparing for the competition this year has shown me the value in developing and redeveloping ideas to improve upon successful designs,” says Blake Ramage, a Grade 12 student at Salisbury Composite. “Robotics has allowed me to grow by gaining insight from other teams and the inspiration to reach beyond the minimum requirements.”

Twenty-one school and community teams from northern Alberta will attend the event with students from grades 7-12. EIPS schools with teams competing include Bev Facey Community High, Fort Saskatchewan High and Salisbury Composite High. At the tournament, teams will design, build, program and operate a robot—complete with sensors, motors, gears and software—to compete in an alliance format against each other.

“Being on the robotics team has been such an awesome experience,” says Natalie Anders, a Grade 11 student at Bev Facey. “I’ve gotten to think outside the box and work on cool mechanical and engineering problems. It’s also helped us develop teamwork skills and project management abilities. It’s been a lot of fun.”

Throughout the competition, each team will work with their robot in an alliance with another team to play a game called INTO THE DEEP. The goal: to score more points than the opponent teams. Robots score points when moving game pieces called samples and specimens onto predetermined locations. During the first 30 seconds, robots are operated in an autonomous period using pre-programmed instructions. It then moves to a two-minute remote-control period. Then, in the last 30 seconds, robots can still earn points through normal means—however, bonus points are introduced for several other actions.

Event Details:
Date:           Feb. 8, 2025
Time:           8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Location:     Salisbury Composite High
                     20 Festival Way, Sherwood Park

Representatives of the media are welcome to attend the FIRST Tech Challenge Northern Alberta Tournament.

Elk Island Public Schools is one of Alberta’s largest school divisions, serving approximately 17,950 students in 42 schools. We are proud to be an integral part of our communities, including Sherwood Park, Fort Saskatchewan, Vegreville, Strathcona and Lamont counties, and the western portion of the County of Minburn.

–30–

For more information, media can contact:
Laura McNabb, Director, Communication Services, EIPS 780-417-8204 cell 780-405-4902