North Surrey Secondary robotics team wins $5,000 Best Buy Canada Teen Tech Teams Grant

The North Surrey Secondary robotics team is getting a boost from Best Buy Canada as one of a handful of teams across the country to receive a Teen Tech Teams grant, valued at $5,000 towards equipment and materials for their robotics team. (Photo submitted)

The robotics team at North Surrey Secondary is about to level up, thanks to a $5,000 grant from Best Buy Canada to support new technologies in secondary classrooms.

Teacher Bryan China and his students are one of seven teams from across the country to receive this year’s Best Buy Canada Teen Tech Teams grants, valued at $5,000 to use towards the purchase of equipment and materials for their team, along with an Alienware gaming laptop to enhance their programming abilities.

“We’re very fortunate to win it, very excited for it and it definitely helps out the team,” said China. “When big news like this happens, they are just as excited as me and everyone else – we’re a really closeknit group.”

Established in 2017, the school’s robotics team is made up of 30 students spanning Grades 8 to 12 and has participated in numerous competitions through FIRST Robotics BC.

“Most of our Grade 10s and up have been on the team for multiple years and the Grade 8s and 9s are newer members,” said China. “We have a great group of Grade 12s who have been on the team since Grade 8 and it’s really cool to see their progression through the years and the skills they’ve developed and how excited they are about building robots, being in the competitions and really engaging with the challenges and wanting to be successful.

While the application window for the grant was considerable, China said he only heard about the grant opportunity with a week to spare before its deadline last June. The students channelled their focus into their application, highlighting their work as a team, their impact on the North Surrey community, their plans for the grant money and how it would benefit the team and school. Despite the last-minute scramble, they were shortlisted for an interview and the rest is history.

“They had a great interview, the kids presented very well, and about a week later, they told us we were successful,” said China. “I got an email from the person who interviewed us and she said, ‘Congratulations, you’ve won.’ It was great news for us to hear – the kids were really excited, there were some big cheers that Best Buy had chosen us and their hard work was recognized and rewarded.”

China said the students are extremely dedicated, meeting two or three days a week after school for most of the school year to design, build and program robots for competition, adding that they enjoy the hands-on engineering challenges.

“This grant will go a long way to helping us prepare for our next competition and we’re just so excited and thankful to receive it,” he said.

Congratulations North Surrey Secondary on receiving a Best Buy Canada Teen Tech Teams Grant!