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World Championship 2026
We are the 2026 Canadian Pacific Regional Impact Award Winners for FIRST Robotics. This is a huge honour, and we need help raising funds to represent British Columbia on the world stage alongside teams from 50 other countries.
How you can help us
How you can help us
We are supported by our sponsors and Parents Advisory Committee, but attending this championship is a huge financial burden to families on our team and goes way above our annual expected expenses. This trip will cost over $70,000 to bring down up to 20 students. We appreciate our school board for supporting us and approving the travel on short notice; however, the costs are higher because of the short notice nature of the trip plus several important administrative policies associated with being a school team and haveing safe international travel for a large group. Costs include paying for a substitute teacher, airfare and insurance (~$2k per person because of group booking policies), and hotels that need to be close to the venue because we have several team members with mobility or other health concerns (since the group needs to travel together with the chaperone who is also a school district employee, we can't split the group to save funds.) We are also a very inclusive team and try to let all students participate, Esquimalt High School has one of the highest vulnerability ratings in the region, and this means some of our students need more help than others to get the same opportunity, so we do what we need to so they can participate; we appreciate your help with this.
We are not looking for the entire cost of the trip to be covered, but if we could bring the costs down to under $2000 per student, it would make this trip more manageable for these families.
Donate directly to the school (Tax Deductable)
Donate directly to the school (Tax Deductable)
1. Donate Online (Recommended)
1. Donate Online (Recommended)
The easiest way to support us is through the official school district website.
Step 1: Visit sd61.schoolcashonline.com (this link will take you directly to the School District 61 Donation page.)
Step 2: Under Fund Destination, select Esquimalt High School (please ensure you do not select the "PAC" option).
Step 3: In the Message to School Board section, please add: "For Atom Smashers Robotics team."
Step 4: Please email esqatomsmashers@gmail.com to let us know you made a donation (otherwise it takes time to get this information from the board)
2) In-Person Drop-off (note School re-opens March 30th after spring break)
You are welcome to stop by the school office in person to drop off cash or a cheque.
Location: Esquimalt High School (847 Colville Rd)
Instructions: Please mark your donation "Attention: Robotics Team."
3) Mail-in Donation
3) Mail-in Donation
If you prefer to send a cheque via mail, please use the following address:
Esquimalt High School
847 Colville Rd. Victoria, B.C.
V9A 4N9
Note: Please address cheques to Esquimalt High School and include "For Robotics Team" in the notes line.
You may also email us so we know to expect it.
Run or Assist with Fundraisers
Run or Assist with Fundraisers
If you have an idea and want to run a fundraiser for our team, please email us at esqatomsmashers@gmail.com or our lead mentor tokeeffe@sd61.bc.ca
Our students and mentors are currently stretched pretty thin, preparing for our existing fundraisers and getting everything ready to travel, so we would be looking for something you would be willing to take the lead on, and we would try to support where possible. After we return on May 4th, we will be more interested in fundraising for our next season or raising money for our summer camp.
Become a Sponsor
Become a Sponsor
We would be happy to have you join our great sponsor team. Please see this page for more details on our existing sponsors and how to become one --> Sponsors
Sponsors who join after March 15th will receive all perks in the 2026-2027 season. We will still try to include Silver and Gold level sponsors on our team shirts and robot at World's if we know soon enough to get them re-printed.
Due to CRA rules, we cannot give tax receipts if we also provide sponsor benefits, See the Direct Donation options above if you'd prefer that.
Share our story
Share our story
This is a pretty big deal, only one other British Columbia team has ever won this award at this event. If you can, please share this with other people you think may be able and willing to help. Or just share it as a piece of good news to show that the next generation is looking bright and working hard to make the world around them better.
Why we won Impact
Why we won Impact
The Impact Award reflects the real difference we are making in our community. Judges specifically recognized our team’s commitment to expanding STEM access through initiatives such as:
Free Summer Robotics Camp – Students organized and delivered a free robotics camp to introduce younger students to engineering and technology. (We hope to expand this again this summer)
Teacher Professional Development – Team members presented at the Tapestry Conference, sharing robotics tools and classroom strategies with educators across the region.
Ongoing STEM Outreach – Students regularly mentor younger teams and demonstrate robotics to schools and community groups throughout Greater Victoria. Specifically this year, we started a robotics program at Macaulay elementary with 17% of the elementary students in that school participating!
Volunteering and Community Service – We assist with multiple community events every year by providing volunteers and doing interactive demonstrations.
These programs are largely student-led, representing hundreds of volunteer hours dedicated to expanding STEM opportunities in our community.
Why this trip needs to happen (Mentor perspective)
Why this trip needs to happen (Mentor perspective)
The students really put their heart and soul into this team. Many of them have done hundreds or even thousands of hours of work above and beyond normal school requirements to make sure this team excels both with the robots, and in their community outreach over the past 3 years (this is what the Impact award looks for).
We have heard and addressed concerns from parents and the school board to make this trip as safe and memorable as possible, but here are a few of the critical reasons we feel this trip is important to do:
Exposure to the high level Global STEM community: This trip will let these students meet potential employers from around the world, it opens up high level scholarship opportunities, and broadens their network by allowing them to meet peers from around the world, many of whom will be the future leaders in areas of science, technology and business.
Exposure to global cultures: In a world where the news amplifies division, being able to meet students from up to 50 different countries, share their passion for success, and see their similarities in person is a critical thing for these future leaders.
Representing Canada: We are the only FRC team going from British Columbia. Many of the other students, and even some of the adults down there will have never met a Canadian. Our team is ingenuitive, diverse and inclusive, and it represents some of the best of what Canada is. It is important to share that and let these students naturally leave a great impression on all the people they interact with at this event.
We made this decision with support from all our key stakeholders and are taking all reasonable measures to ensure the most positive experience for all involved. This is taking a lot of careful planning and effort on our part. Please wish the team luck, and respect that this is an incredible opportunity for these students.
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