By Jaeleen Koscielski
On Thursday, July 7, 2016, FIRST Canada hosted the inaugural charity golf tournament at Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham, Ontario. The event was a great success; there were teams of four golfers from sponsors like Microsoft, SYNNEX, HP Lenovo, Magna, Lexmark, Xerox and so many more.
The day began with all of the excited participants checking in. Then they had the opportunity to meet with some of the bright-minded students on teams in the Robot Tent. Several teams showed off their creative projects and robots from the elementary FIRST LEGO League teams, Classy Cyborgs, Black Walnut and Magic Miners. The golfers also got to experience the high school FIRST Robotics Competition robots with teams 4001, 4476, and 4343 bringing out their robots to play around with this year’s game. They were even able to learn how to drive the robots themselves. The golfers were very impressed with how well the students communicated their ideas.
Golfers headed out for their game of golf on the beautiful course at Angus Glen Golf Club. Student Ambassadors from all over Ontario were at various holes which gave them a chance to discuss with the participants what FIRST means to them, how it has changed their lives and their personal experiences being a part of FIRST. This gave the golfers an inside look on how this program affects students at such a young age and can shape their future for the better. After a long day of golf in the sun, the golfers came in for dinner and had the opportunity to bid on some amazing silent auction prizes that were generously donated from all of our sponsors and donors. During dinner the golfers had a chance to listen to some speeches from Don Bossi, President of FIRST, Mark Breadner, Executive Director of FIRST Canada, me (Jaeleen Koscielski – an alumni of FRC Team 772), and Kevin Murai, Chair of FIRST Canada Advisory Board.
FIRST Canada would like to thank all the volunteers and sponsor who made this event possible and all the participants for making it an amazing day. We look forward to next year’s event!