Despite the COVID-19-related setbacks faced by STEMGuyana, the organisation has managed to engage and educate local youths through its virtual programs and is working towards the launching of a national robotics challenge slated for August 15 to September 7.
STEMGuyana, a registered nonprofit organisation (NPO), has been making great strides within the public and private realm in Guyana, meeting the needs of Guyanese children across all ten administrative regions. STEM, an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, has been making a significant impact on its members as it relates to the knowledge of the subjects. This is the fourth year since the organisation has been in operation. Despite not yet having received any significant funding for this year, the organisation has still been able to launch several technology education programs.
The past four years has seen the NPO successfully train and prepare teams of young people to participate at the annual global robotics challenge. This year’s constraints has forced organisers to host the challenge digitally. Guyana is among 150 countries participating in the series of the 2020 global challenges. The coaches for the robotics team are Arrianna Mahase, Shamar Stewart and technical advisor Sahief Poese, while its members are Ariel Taylor, Keeland Cummings, Daniel Eastman, Kyle Dos Santos and Dietra Fields.
Students looking to participate in the national robotics challenge will be allowed to enter by researching and building a robot using recycled materials. The robot must address a critical issue within their community and may be in the category of vehicle or humanoid robots.
Recently 123 youths from Guyana, Trinidad, and Barbados, participated in the Caribbean Region COVID-19 Warz Challenge where students from the ages of 8 to 15 years competed to create an innovative Scratch project which required them to demonstrate how COVID-19 is contracted or could be avoided. Guyana copped four of the five top places in the competition. First, second, fourth, and fifth places went to On Beaton, Ariel Taylor, Tushaant Sanichara and Zion Rambarran respectively, while Merrick Marshall of Barbados was awarded third place.
Among the projects initiated by the NPO is the STEMGuyana International Summer Academy which provided children with access to three coding classes. Children, 8 years old and up across the country learnt to code using lesson plans which were integrated with the Ministry of Education’s Science curriculum. To date students from regions 2, 4, 6 and 9 have enrolled in the program. The classes are one week in duration and upon completion of the program, students are awarded certificates.
More than 150 students have completed courses at the Summer Academy over the past several years.
Presently STEMGuyana is recruiting students to join the national robotics junior and open teams to participate at the International Youth Robotics Challenge (IYRC) set for September 6 to 8 in South Korea. Team Guyana will be participating in the virtual challenge and will field a junior and open team. Students are required to have experience with any MRT (My Robot Time) kit and must be 8 to 12 years old to make the junior team or 14 to 18 years old to make the senior team.
STEMGuyana is also presenting a global series titled “How To Save The World” that will aid in a global perspective of problem solving. The one-week seminar is open to students 14 years and older as well as parents, employers and employees.
The NPO currently operates out of a 20ft by 20ft room at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall. However, despite their tiny office, they have managed to make headway in promoting its mandate throughout Guyana. They are presently raising funds to build their headquarters which will house a training center and innovation labs, so that young people all across the country could have proper facilities in which they can be trained as club leaders, mentors, and ambassadors to be able to serve within their own regions.
The NPO also collaborated to create HELP GUYANA, Guyana’s first crisis management web and mobile app, which was launched in observance of International Day of Girls in ICT (Information and Communication Technology). The idea was conceptualised by a stakeholder group of women, namely: Karen Adams (STEM Guyana Director) and Dr Mellissa Ifill (UG lecturer), along with members of STEMGuyana, GTT, and International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly-Guyana (IDPADA-G) teams. The application was coded by Coily.us creator and STEMGuyana co-founder, Asha Christian. Adams, meanwhile, brings to the project her many years of experience in the Crisis Management, Disaster Recovery space during her time in corporate America where she served as Director of Risk Management for EarthLink Networks in Atlanta, Georgia.
The project which is sponsored by GTT, IDPADA-G, and the Anira Foundation, is customised for the COVID-19 crisis, which allows masks producers and providers to sell and donate as well as provide them with a portal to share information be it for other goods and services. HELP GUYANA caters for advertisement to thousands of users of the app and allows for registration for delivery services countrywide. One of the modules recruits volunteers for registered agencies. Also, importantly, the security module allows for the anonymous reporting of domestic violence, fraud and abuse known to be prevalent during times of crisis.
For more information, to participate in any one of these competitions, to be a part of the global one week seminar, or to fund any of their projects, STEMGuyana can be reached at stemguyana@gmail.com or on their Facebook page.
