Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 21, 2020 (ZIZ News): The Coronavirus pandemic has changed the way things are done globally, and this has been no exception for the students that make up the St. Kitts robotics association.
As the team participates in the First Global Competition, they were challenged to outline what they have done as it relates to STEM, which is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
ZIZ News spoke with team member Kayla Mallalieu who participated in online classes offered by her school. She made a comparison between that experience and being a part of the First Global Challenge which has gone virtual for the first time.
“It was easy for me to adapt to the change because I had exposure from doing online classes. Just as school it was very different because of the environment changed and the distraction and everything but you adapt to it and its pretty normal because that’s the normal way now,” she said.
Nicholas Powell who is the youngest team member said his quarantine time was spent building a go-cart. He outlined how this is related to the engineering aspect of STEM.
“For the engineering part, well the part where you build this and that, the way you have to align the shafts with the wheels and everything to get the breaks and gas working and everything connected to the engine because it will be a one engine go cart. That’s for the meantime and then later on we will get another engine for the second wheel,” he said.
Powell said it has been a great experience to participate in the online version of the First Global Challenge.
He said, “Well it’s good so far. Interesting, even though we have corona right now, it is good to see that they are actually able to still do it. Maybe not building a robot or in person with everybody, but at least being able to cooperate with people still, having fun, making bloopers.”
This is the 4th year St. Kitts and Nevis has participated in the First Global Challenge which has taken an online format for the first time.
The challenge is guided by the theme ‘Connecting Communities’ and will span 13 weeks, ending on September 25th.