Image Credit: Kent Simmonds / CFJC Today

By Dylana Kneeshaw

REGIONAL ROBOTICS

Gold medal finish for NorKam students at VEX IQ Robotics Challenge

Mar 12, 2025 | 5:16 PM

KAMLOOPS — A group of students at NorKam Secondary School recently garnered regional accolades for their robotics skills. The Grade 8 and 9 students teamed up to win gold at a Skills Canada competition at Thompson Rivers University earlier this month.

Putting the robot together was a cross-curricular effort, using physics, math, engineering and computer programming. The four-person team had a little more than a month to build and program a robot for the contest, but their work paid off.

From casual interest, to regional gold, the robotics team at NorKam Secondary worked its way to the top at the VEX IQ Robotics Challenge, which is a regional event put on by Skills Canada and hosted at TRU.

NorKam Secondary teacher Dewald Vandermerwe heard about the event and mentioned it to students from a variety of classes to see if any would take part.

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“I went to some of my previous robotics classes and current ones and sort of announced, ‘Hey, this is an opportunity, a thing that’s happening that’s new to Kamloops,'” he explains.

Word of a robotics competition caught the interest of four students, who wound up dedicating their lunch hours to building a competition-ready robot within the span of a month.

“Some days, I could just hang out in the corner and build the robot because usually they would be focusing on theories and stuff and I would be able to build the robot, which was really fun,” says ninth grade team member, Maelle Pierce-Aumack.

The NorKam squad went up against teams from around the district for the challenge, including Brocklehurst Secondary and Chase Secondary, and came away victorious.

“I was the tweak person. You know in F1 racing and the pitstops? I was that,” says eighth grader Chidera Lawson. “Let’s say they had a problem with the velocity or the torque, I tweak it on the computer, load it up, and they take it.”

According to Jonathan Kuang, another Grade 8 student on the team, some of their best work came from spur-of-the-moment troubleshooting.

“For me, the best part was learning about mechanics and overcoming the challenges that come with this,” he adds.

The win was an unexpected surprised. But the team’s robot, Magnus, has a fitting namesake.

“The famous chess player, Magnus Carlson,” fellow team member Daniel Cazares explains to CFJC.

As for what’s next, Cazares says they want to go to provincials next year, and see how far their skills can take them.

“Well, we’re hoping to improve the robot and make some modifications,” he notes.

In the meantime, it’s back to lunch-house adjustments to Magnus.

“It’s just nice to see that just from that little win, or big win, it has sparked so much interest to move forward with it. To provincial, to next year, to all these things. And that is something I really enjoy seeing as an educator. Those kids are now hooked, right? And we’ll move them along,” adds Vandermerwe.