Robotics competition encourages girls to get into STEM

It's Super Bowl weekend, and a robotics competition is riffing onthatfootball theme as it aimsto encourage students, particularly girls, to take an interest in robotics.

The 17th annual CRC Robotics Competition started Thursday at Laval Senior Academy, and a winner will be announced Saturday.

Organizers see the competition as a fun way to get girls thinking about pursuing further studies in STEM fields science, technology, engineering and math.

IoannaKorbis, aGrade 11 at Collge Sainte-Marcellinein Saint-Laurent,says she appreciates being surrounded byso many amateur engineers.

"It's a great feeling to know that I can come here, and it's perfectly normal, it's not like, 'Oh why is she here?' It'slike, this is my thing, too."

CollgeSainte-Marcelline'sall-girls team built a robot that can shoot footballs in two directions, well as pick up balls and drop them.

Hands-on experiments

Organizers of the competition said the involvement of girlshas increased exponentially since it began.

"One of our missions is always to promote women in STEM, having girls pursue their passion at a very young age," spokesperson Natasha Vitale said.

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She saidmaking competitorsdo a hands-on experiment and trythings they wouldn't learn in a classroomgives them an edge if they pursue higher education in these fields.

"We also wanted to make sure they have collaborative competition they can go to and have fun," Vitale said.

High schools andCEGEPsfrom across Quebec are participating, as well as ateam from Vancouver, B.C.