A Chatham girl and her mother are competing against the world's top robotics teams this week in Detroit.
Madison Vickery and her mother Amy are on a robotics team called the Amazon Warriors, which is the first and only all-girls First (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics rookie team with all female mentors in Ontario.
Madison, a Grade 10 student at Ursuline College Chatham, says the team won the provincials earlier this month in Mississauga, where it competed against the province's top 80 teams. She says the Amazon Warriors team is now ranked 13th in Ontario and is competing at the world championship in Detroit, which began on Wednesday and runs until Saturday.
"I was on a team in Chatham last year and then when I heard about the all-girls team in Windsor, I thought that it was a really good opportunity and that it would be a very accepting environment," says Madison.
Amy says the team accepts girls from anywhere in Southwestern Ontario, but members are primarily from Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent. She says the team meets every Wednesday at CentreLine in Windsor, which has donated their space and equipment.
Team members have six weeks at the beginning of each year to design and build the robots.
Madison says she loves how comfortable and accepted she feels on the team.
"The girls on the team have really become like my sisters. We're the best of friends. We do everything together," says Madison. "It's a really safe environment."
Madison says she is still considering career options for the future but is interested in working in the manufacturing field and doing something STEM-related.
Amy, who is a social worker, says she first became involved as a mentor because it was a passion of her daughter's, but it quickly became a part of the team dynamic.
"We have six girls, so we're a small team. They have been fantastic. They're all very motivated to do well and all very good at what they've chosen to do as their role on the team," says Amy. "They're an easy group to work with because they're all very supportive and empowering of each other."
Amy encourages any girls interested in becoming involved in the team can reach out through the Build a Dream Robotics (Team 6875) Facebook page. She adds that the team is always looking for company sponsorships to help fund-raise for events.