J’can team heads to Greece to compete in World Robotics Olympics
Published:Thursday | September 26, 2024 | 12:08 AMLester Hinds/Gleaner Writer
The nine-member school team representing Jamaica at this year’s Robotics Olympics was set to arrive in Greece yesterday for the start of the competition today.
The team comprises five students, two coaches, one additional student and one additional coach, making a total of nine people. The schools represented on the 2024 team delegation are the American International School of Kingston (AISK), Campion College, Hillel Academy, Immaculate Conception High School, Kingston College (KC), and Wolmer’s High School for Boys.
Among the students on the team are Alwyn Brown of KC, Ojani Chung of Campion, Emily Zhu of Hillel Academy, Abbigail Cato of Immaculate, Sean-Michael Williams of AISK and support student Jordon Williams of Wolmer’s.
The coaches are Paul Pounall and Marc-Anthony Eaton as well as junior coach Orville Daley. Dezion Duhaney is chaperone.
Jamaican high school students will join students from more than 190 countries in the FIRST® Global Challenge 2024, otherwise known as the Robotics Olympics, in the home of the Olympics – Athens, Greece.
Donavan Wilson, president of the New York-based non-profit Jamaica Union of Alumni Associations (UJAA), which sponsors the team and coaches, said the association was able to cover all expenses for the participants at this year’s Olympics, having raised the US$10,000 it was seeking.
Wilson also told The Gleaner that, for the first time, members of the team will be provided with a US$250 stipend to cover incidental costs they might incur.
Last year, the 10-member Jamaican Robotics team won the Katherine Johnson Award for engineering documentation, named for African-American mathematician Katherine Johnson, dubbed the human computer, who helped to calculate aeronautics that helped guide the return from space to Earth of astronauts John Glen and Alan Shepard.
The award, which Jamaica won over 10 other competitors, is given to the team that best demonstrates the journey they took in building their robot.
“Over the past seven years, Team Jamaica Robotics has had the support and sponsorship of UJAA and its 64-member alumni associations in the diaspora. The cost of the undertaking has increased as the competition travels around the world, despite an air travel subsidy from FIRST®,” said Wilson. “UJAA needs help in raising funds as they work towards assuring that this incredible opportunity for our young innovators to showcase their skills internationally becomes a reality.”
Wilson also thanked the Jamaica Teachers’ Association for its assistance in support of the team to Greece.
UJAA has been the primary sponsor since the FIRST Global Challenge began in 2017.
According to Wilson, it has always been UJAA’s contention that the programme provides students with the expertise and exposure to a once-in-a-lifetime experience that not only allows them to engage with students from across the globe, but “combines their accomplishment with encouragement and pride as true ambassadors of Jamaica for Jamaicans globally”.
Added Wilson, “As we’ve said, the challenge encourages our young people to not only meet the technical challenge but to do so with a spirit of cooperation. This combination of skills is what our children need to help us solve global problems. This competition provides life-changing experiences!
“Since the inception of this annual event in 2017, UJAA has been committed to ensuring that our students are prepared to not just participate in this Robotics Olympic, but also to enjoy the experience of being ambassadors on the world stage. Each year, our Jamaican team of students has proven that Jamaica is ‘likkle but tallawah’ by taking home at least one of the 19 awards of excellence given annually.”