A donation of $12,500 from Lopes Ltd. and Coniston Industrial Park is helping St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School’s Bearbotics program grow, providing more opportunities for students to explore robotics as they prepare for the 2026–2027 competition season.

At a cheque presentation held in October, Morris Hucal, CEO and Chief Education Officer of Sudbury Catholic Schools, joined students, school administrators, teacher mentors and community partners to recognize the contribution. Hucal thanked both donors and congratulated the team and educator-coaches Loretta Cuda, Sarah Dickieson and Matthew Giornofelice for their enthusiasm, hard work and commitment to the program.

Since its debut in 2024, Bearbotics has grown significantly, giving students opportunities to apply classroom learning through hands-on experiences in design, construction, programming and problem-solving. This year, the program includes 24 students in Grades 9–12.

“One of the most rewarding parts of Bearbotics is seeing how much our students grow, both individually and as a team,” said Loretta Cuda. “Students come to us with different backgrounds, interests and levels of experience, but everyone has something to contribute. Robotics creates a space where students can discover their strengths, build confidence, support one another and develop a real sense of belonging. We aren’t just building robots; we’re building a community where students encourage each other, learn together and realize what they’re capable of achieving.”

Through their participation, students build technical skills while learning to communicate, adapt and persevere when a design does not work as expected. Preparing for competition brings these skills together as teams refine their robots and develop strategies to meet each challenge.

“Robotics is more than just building, design, and code. It is about turning our curiosity as students into real-world engineer problem solving. Our goal for the team from day one was to push the limits of what a rookie team could do, support each other in our tasks, and showing what the efforts of what hard work can do. In our particular case bringing us to a international stage,” said Owen Carpenter, Grade 12. Thanks to the donation from lopes and the school, we will be able to continue this club for many years to come and it will also allow us to obtain better tools and materials to compete with. 

St. Benedict is currently home to Sudbury Catholic’s only registered secondary school competitive robotics team having competed in the FIRST Tech Challenge and Skills Ontario. Building on the program’s growth, the Board hopes to expand access to robotics learning across more school communities with the support of community partners.

“Robotics brings learning to life by giving students opportunities to design, build and solve problems together,” said Hucal. “The support of Lopes Ltd. and Coniston Industrial Park is helping our students explore their interests, build confidence and discover future pathways. We are grateful for their investment in our students and excited about the possibilities as robotics learning continues to grow across Sudbury Catholic Schools.”

Currently, the Bearbotics team is preparing for its first robotics competition of the season on November 28, 2026, at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School, 275 Loachs Road, Sudbury.

Sudbury Catholic Schools extends its sincere thanks to Lopes Ltd. and Coniston Industrial Park for supporting student learning and helping more students build, create and innovate.

To learn more about supporting robotics learning at Sudbury Catholic Schools, contact robotics@sudburycatholicschools.ca.