A high school robotics team is eager to take their creations to a NASA competition once again, but the Surrey students are left with even less support this time around.
Princess Margaret Secondary's robotics design team was the first Canadian team ever accepted in 2024 at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Human Exploration Rover Challenge for students in high school and post-secondary. The competition has a 30-year-long history
Ranking seventh place in the world, the Surrey high school students have been selected once again this year.
However, the likelihood of the 10 students entering is now on shaky ground.
"Unfortunately, the Surrey school district is not able to support us and let us use their name," shared Jeevan Sandhu, one of the Grade 12 students on the team.
"The school district is in charge of thousands of kids and this is a project that realistically is for 10 kids, so it made sense why they couldn't provide financial support, but this year they also dropped out administratively, so that was really frustrating."
The formerly named LeoCraft Design Team initially had to drop out of the competition due to the lack of support but has returned with a new name 鈥� and the same mission.
The newly named Nova Design Team is now working twice as hard this year to raise the $45,000 goal by April 1 via an
With the tight deadline, Nova plans to design an electronic rover that will hopefully also be self-driving and be able "to detect different obstacles on the moon and also collect samples from the moon," Sandhu explained.
Reflecting on last year, Sandhu notes how the Princess Margaret team was also honoured with the STEM Engagement Award for doing outreach work with more than 2,000 youth, something the team is doing again. This year so far, Nova Design has engaged with more than 3,500 kids across elementary and high schools to develop a love for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
"Our school was watching the livestream of us at the competition and a lot of community members and it was this wholesome moment," Sandhu recalled.
"Our school has a lot of immigrant and newcomer kids where English is not their first language, and so a lot of the priority goes to them, which is 100 per cent needed, and I think the rest of us were looking for a challenge academically, which our school doesn't really provide."
Fundraising was also an easier feat last year with the support of the school district, Sandhu added. The team was able to raise $80,000, consisting of community support and , which donated $15,000 to their cause to sponsor the team.
Nova Design has applied for city funding once again but has not heard back yet.
Describing the rover challenge as part of the group's "passion project," they are hoping their rover can be built and taken to Huntsville, Alabama for the NASA competition once again, even with less support this year around.
"We're just really struggling to raise the money because last year when we were with the district, we were able to give tax receipts to those who donate, but this year we aren't able to give tax receipts," Sandhu said, adding that so far, the team has raised nearly $2,000, a small dent in what's needed.
In a response to Peace Arch News, Surrey Schools stated they do not have the financial or staff resources this year to support the student team again.
"Our goal is to ensure students have an opportunity to participate in a range of these types of experiences in a fair and equitable way. We also need enough time to go through the proper channels and provide approvals to support student-led programs, but unfortunately, the students did not meet these requirements."
