International robotics competition |04 August 2018

Vice-President meets Team Seychelles 2018, wishes them luck

Vice-President Vincent Meriton has congratulated the six members of Team Seychelles 2018 who will be taking part in the First Global Challenge Competition to be held from August 15-18 at the Arena Ciudad de Mexico.

This was in a short ceremony yesterday at the National Institute for Science, Technology and Innovation (Nisti) headquarters at Bel Ombre.

The team, comprising four students -- Stephie-Anna Monthy, Trisha Labiche, Amy Joubert and Louta Bastienne -- will travel to Mexico City on Saturday August  11.

The all-girls team hailing from both government and private schools will be accompanied by the chief executive of Nisti and team leader, Xavier Estico, and technical mentor Beryl Payet.

Mr Meriton commended the team and wished them the best of luck in the competition.

“Knowledge is capital and to get knowledge we must learn. We in Seychelles are blessed to have a system that encourages and fosters learning. This competition will be a display of the knowledge, skills and attitudes of our students and serves as a reminder that more importance should be placed on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). We look forward to seeing you thrive and excel,” Vice-President Meriton said.

The annual robotics competition seeks to promote STEM education while empowering young people across the world and inspiring them to think innovatively.

Small teams of students aged 14-18 are invited to the international ‘Olympics’- style challenge where they interact and cooperate with other students from different backgrounds and cultures to address pressing issues in the world and increase their knowledge so they can become the next generation of scientific leaders.

The theme for this year’s competition is ‘Energy Impact’. The team will compete against other teams using robotics to fuel power plants and initiate renewable energy plants as part of the vision to explore more sustainable sources of energy.

The four students were elected by their respective schools as the top performers in the Robotics Building and Programming Competition organised by SIDS Youth AIMS Hub (SYAH) with the Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) in April to mark the International Girls and ICT Day on April 28.

The meeting concluded with a robotic demonstration by the team and a vote of thanks by Team Leader Stephie-Anna Monthy who thanked the Vice-President and all involved in realising their participation in the competition. 

A representative of the Education Trust Fund also presented a cheque to Beau Vallon secondary school on behalf of Team Seychelles 2018.