Backed by a retinue of public and private sector organisations including the Department of Youth, the Ministry of Education, the Office of the First Lady, the National Library, the Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company, ExxonMobil, Tullow Oil and a significant diaspora group, the local organisation, STEMGuyana says that its Sunday December 15 Annual Robotics Exhibition at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre should be seen as part of the process in the journey in pursuit of its mission to prepare Guyana’s young people to be the country’s next generation of innovators and leaders.
More than 500 young people whom STEMGuyana CEO Karen Abrams told Stabroek Business are “wild about robots” as well as representatives of local technology companies are expected to converge on the Arthur Chung Centre for the event.
Billed as The STEMGuyana – Tullow Oil 3rd Annual Robotics Exhibition, Abrams said that she expects the occasion to be the premier youth event hosted over the Christmas holidays in Guyana. “We are fully expecting that this event will bring in robot enthusiasts representing STEM clubs from every region of Guyana,” Abrams told Stabroek Business. She singled out Tullow Oil and Air Services as being among the sponsors who have made “a concerted effort to ensure the participation of young people representing teams from the interior regions of Guyana.”
The December 15 STEM Guyana exhibition marks the culmination of the Guyana National Robotics League activities, including a five-week competition, where more than forty teams of young people from every region of Guyana competed to build a robotics solution to any problem in the security sector. Abrams says that the success of the National League also “reflects the hard work of partners like the Department of Youth and committed volunteer STEM club coaches.” She said, too, that it symbolises “the excitement generated by the robotics national team’s outstanding performance at the First Global Robotics competition in Dubai,” where nearly every country in the world was represented (190) and where members of Guyana’s amazing young team were rewarded with the Albert Einstein gold medal award, the most prestigious award earned by the team with the best overall performance at the tourney.
Abrams told Stabroek Business that what the accomplishments of Dubai have proven is that Guyana’s young people can be just as creative and innovative as young people from historically wealthy countries in the world. “We have proven again and again, that when opportunity meets our talent, the results are always outstanding. Opportunity is often only provided when people with resources believe in our youth and support them and invest in them. STEMGuyana has some committed supporters and the youth of Guyana are better off for it,” she added.
According to Abrams, Tullow Oil’s “generous sponsorship” has allowed for prizes to be awarded to several of the outstanding performers whose contributions were critical to the success of the programme in 2019. Two platinum prizes of $100,000 each will go to the two outstanding STEM club coaches, while four further cash prizes of $25,000 each will be awarded to runners-up in these categories. The outstanding Librarian and outstanding Teacher will be rewarded with $25,000 in prize money, while ten robot kits will be awarded to the 10 schools represented by the most students at the exhibition. Further, ten laptops will be awarded to the 10 outstanding STEM clubs. All participants will receive medals and certificates of membership and participation in the National Robotics League.
