Three FRC 10015 Bubbles Students Receive SHAD Program Offers at Grade 10

SHAD Offer email to parents

Three FRC Team 10015 Bubbles students received SHAD program offers in Grade 10, recognizing their leadership, STEM achievements, and student ownership developed through FIRST robotics.

By SolversMind Robotics
Published February 2, 2026 | Updated August 2, 2026
Reviewed by SolversMind Robotics mentors

Great students are not only defined by what they build. They are defined by how they think, lead, solve problems, and create impact.

SolversMind Robotics is proud to announce that three key members of FRC Team 10015 Bubbles have received offers to join the prestigious SHAD program while still in Grade 10:

  • Ryan Zhang – FRC Team 10015 Bubbles Captain

  • Queena Lin – FRC Team 10015 Bubbles Co-Captain

  • Ryan Kong – FRC Team 10015 Bubbles CAD Lead

Receiving a SHAD offer is a significant achievement because the program is designed primarily for students entering Grade 11 and Grade 12 who demonstrate exceptional potential in entrepreneurship, STEM, leadership, creativity, and community impact.

For three Grade 10 students from the same FRC team to receive offers is a meaningful recognition of the quality of student leadership developed through Bubbles and SolversMind Robotics.

What is the SHAD program and why is it important?

SHAD is a highly selective Canadian enrichment program that brings together exceptional high school students from across Canada for an immersive experience focused on science, technology, engineering, entrepreneurship, leadership, and social innovation.

Each summer, SHAD participants work in collaborative teams to solve real-world challenges, develop innovative ideas, learn from industry professionals, and build leadership skills. The program emphasizes creativity, interdisciplinary thinking, communication, and the ability to turn ideas into meaningful solutions.

The selection process is competitive and evaluates students based on their academic achievements, leadership experiences, extracurricular involvement, community contributions, creativity, and personal qualities.

Although many applicants apply in Grade 11 and Grade 12, receiving an offer as a Grade 10 student demonstrates strong evidence of early leadership potential.

SHAD is not looking only for students with high grades.

It looks for students who take initiative, work well with others, think independently, and have demonstrated the ability to create positive impact.

These are exactly the qualities developed through long-term FIRST robotics participation.

Why did three Bubbles students receive SHAD offers?

Ryan Zhang, Queena Lin, and Ryan Kong represent three different leadership areas within FRC Team 10015 Bubbles.

As team captain, Ryan Zhang has led the team’s engineering development, competition strategy, outreach initiatives, and student leadership culture. His experience includes representing FIRST Canada through youth leadership activities, public speaking, mentoring, and community engagement.

Queena Lin, as co-captain, has contributed to team operations, communication, business development, and organizational leadership. Her role demonstrates that successful robotics teams require much more than engineering. They require teamwork, planning, communication, and the ability to coordinate people toward a common goal.

Ryan Kong, as CAD Lead, represents the technical depth of Bubbles’ engineering program. Through mechanical design, CAD modelling, prototyping, and robot development, he has helped transform ideas into functional systems.

Together, these students demonstrate the complete skill set that programs like SHAD value:

  • Technical ability

  • Leadership

  • Collaboration

  • Creativity

  • Problem-solving

  • Communication

  • Ownership

Their achievement also highlights an important connection between FIRST robotics and programs like SHAD.

FIRST does not simply teach students how to build robots.

It creates environments where students learn how to identify problems, develop solutions, explain their ideas, work with diverse teams, and take responsibility for meaningful projects.

These experiences naturally prepare students for opportunities beyond robotics.

How does FIRST robotics prepare students for future leaders?

At SolversMind Robotics, we believe robotics is a platform for developing future innovators and leaders.

A successful FIRST student learns much more than mechanical design, programming, or electronics.

They learn how to:

  • Break down complex problems

  • Make decisions with incomplete information

  • Communicate technical ideas clearly

  • Work across different skill areas

  • Recover from failures

  • Lead and support teammates

  • Take ownership of outcomes

These skills align closely with what SHAD seeks in future leaders.

FRC Team 10015 Bubbles has always focused on a student-led model. Students are encouraged to design, build, program, test, document, and explain their own work.

Mentors provide guidance and professional experience, but students remain responsible for the engineering journey.

This ownership mindset is one of the strongest reasons why FIRST students often stand out in programs, universities, and future careers.

For Bubbles, having three key students selected for SHAD is not only an individual accomplishment.

It is recognition of the team culture.

It shows that when students are given meaningful responsibility, they develop confidence, independence, and leadership abilities that extend far beyond the competition field.

SolversMind Robotics is honoured that Ryan, Queena, and Ryan will continue representing the values of FIRST through their future learning experiences.

We are proud to contribute talented young people who are ready to become the next generation of engineers, entrepreneurs, researchers, and community leaders.

Congratulations to Ryan Zhang, Queena Lin, and Ryan Kong on this well-deserved achievement. Your journey from FIRST robotics to SHAD is another example of how student-led learning creates future impact.

Tags:
SHAD program, FRC Team 10015 Bubbles, SolversMind Robotics, Ryan Zhang, Queena Lin, Ryan Kong, FIRST Robotics, STEM leadership, student innovation, Canadian STEM education, youth entrepreneurship, Grade 10 achievement

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