Latest update January 18th, 2025 7:00 AM
Fifteen teams to participate in Guyana’s first Nationwide Robot and coding technology competition
A total of fifteen teams representing schools, community clubs and religious organizations in region three, four, seven and 10 will be participating in Guyana’s first Nationwide Robot and Coding technology competition.
This programme is the first of its kind in Guyana, and serves as a pilot to gauge the interest of participants, and to help organizers work out potential issues associated with automating and organizing a nationwide competition among teams so widely dispersed in Guyana.
Organiser of the event, Karen Abrams, who is the co-founder of STEMGuyana, stated that students will learn critical soft skills like collaboration, communication and conflict resolution, while strengthening their academic knowledge, critical thinking, problem solving and technical skills.
She added that they are simply no downside to youth participation in the new competition. Abrams noted that the launched is to expose and engage young people in STEM related activities and careers.
She noted, too, that they have also found that the more they engage, is the more they learn, and the more they are able to grasp complicated concepts.
The youth are also being prepared for the future, which is unknown but will be kinder to young people who are comfortable with the backend of technology, Abrams says.
A total of 36 young people from across Guyana attended the STEMGuyana information session and player assessment for August 2018, First Global robotics championship to be held in Mexico City, Mexico.
Five students between the ages of 15 and 18 were selected to represent Guyana in Mexico City. One Coach and an Assistant Coach, along with two mentors and a Public Relations Officer (PRO), will also travel with the team.
Local Director, Colin Sawh, noted that the selection committee is looking for young people who are curious, hard-working, disciplined, unafraid of facing challenges, determined and creative. He added that there were no grade requirement in 2017, and there will be no grade requirement this year.
Sawh went on to say that they are looking for young people with great attitudes who will be great team members. Adams added that STEMGuyana generated much interest in the organization’s model for STEM engagement of Guyana’s youth, which was presented to an energetic audience at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) eighth annual meeting.
Abrams, whose presentation was titled “Robots In The Caribbean”, represented STEMGUYANA’s activities in four quadrants; preparing the robotics national team, creation of social good apps, the training of STEM club trainers and expansion of the STEM club network throughout the country and the management of a national robot building and scratch coding competition throughout the country.
Abrams made the point that, “STEMGuyana is working with partners to make investments today which will pay off in 10, 15, 20 years. We want our young people to be prepared to provide technology services for the world.
Estonia, a nation of 1.3m people, is home to 14,000 tech start-up companies; Guyana has a little more than half their population, so a target of 5000 Guyanese tech start-ups in 15 years is what we’re aiming for, an optimistic Abrams stated.
STEMGuyana is working with partner organizations to make long-term investments in Guyanese youth, Abrams said.
The presentation was also well received by leaders of indigenous groups who expressed interest in making the programme accessible to their communities. Additionally, representatives from several Guyanese communities and Caribbean countries expressed interest in replicating the STEMGuyana model in their respective communities and countries.
STEMGuyana recently received the first tranche of $2M donation from Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT), which will be used to sponsor their upcoming robot exhibition, slated for Saturday, July 07, at the Cliff Anderson, Sports Hall.
The funds will also be used to expand STEMGuyana’s programs nationwide and across the Caribbean.
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