More girls being sought for robotics conference

STEM Guyana has begun preparations to participate in this year’s FIRST Global Robotics Challenge to be held in Mexico City in August.

The aim of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Guyana is to have more females participating in this round of the challenge.

Guyana participated in the competition for the first time last year and placed 10th.

The FIRST Global Challenge, which sees the annual participation of over 150 nations, will be hosted this year under the theme “Free Energy.”

Speaking with News Room during an interview, STEM Guyana team member Farnaz Baksh noted that the team is in the process of getting students between the ages of 15 and 18 involved. “We sent out a general notice on the STEM Guyana web page and students can actually sign up online -whoever is interested in representing Guyana at the next First Global Robotic Olympic in Mexico,” she said.

“…a lot of students sign up from TI (the Technical Institute), from different high schools around Georgetown, even in Berbice,” Baksh disclosed.

More girls are being encouraged this year to participate in the project as the group strives to show that females can advance in the field of technology.

“We’re really trying to get more young girls in action to show them that, ‘it’s not only the males can be involved in robotics but we have very passionate females also,” StephaneeSimon, another team member.

The FIRST Global Robotics Challenge aims to increase participants’ knowledge of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems from food security and access to clean water, to finding better medicines and securing cyberspace.