PVNC Catholic Central Junior Robotics Competition: Students spark innovation in a battle of bots!

Mar. 28, 2025

Six teams from schools across Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington (PVNC) Catholic District School Board competed on March 27, 2025 at Ontario Tech University in Oshawa in the Central Junior Robotics Competition.

The event featured the three winners from each regional competition (Clarington/Northumberland and Peterborough/City of Kawartha Lakes) last month.

The Grade 4-6 students represented St. Patrick, St. Alphonsus, St. Catherine Catholic elementary schools in Peterborough, St. Anthony Catholic Elementary School in Port Hope, and Monsignor Leo Cleary and St. Joseph Catholic elementary schools in Clarington.

“I’m having a lot of fun today. I’ve learned how to code a robot. I didn’t know how to do that before,” said Charlotte Benham, Grade 6 student at Monsignor Leo Cleary CES.

“Teamwork makes the dream work. We’ve learned that expression is true,” added Ellie den Biesen, Grade 6 student at St. Anthony CES.

“I’ve learned a lot about teamwork and how the spike works in coding,” said Alexandria Tarticchio, Grade 6 student at St. Patrick CES.

Each team had to code their robot to move through a series of courses and were graded on how well the robot stuck to the course and how fast it completed it.

“I have learned a lot about coding robotics, teamwork and key things for my future,” said Jameson Klein, Grade 5 student at St. Anthony CES.

Jameson said he’d like to learn more about robotics and is even thinking about a career in the field.

“I’m very interested in robots, coding and technology,” he said. “It’s really one of the key features that I love.”

St. Joseph CES in Bowmanville walked away with the top prize and will represent PVNC Catholic at the Skills Ontario competition on May 5 in Toronto.