THE Volunteer Youth Corporation (VYC), along with ExxonMobil, on Thursday, handed over, to six secondary schools in the Georgetown region, robotics kits, thus supporting the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) after-school program.
The ceremony was held at the Richard Ishmael Secondary school on Woolford Avenue, Thomas Lands. The schools in attendance were Charlestown Secondary, New Central High, Dolphin Secondary, Tucville Secondary and St. John’s College.

Goldie Scott, the Chief Executive Officer of the VYC, explained that the purpose of handing over the robotic kits to the secondary schools was to aid in the preparation of students for the annual upcoming stem challenge on November 30, 2019, at the Princess Ramada Hotel. Scott also stated that the main objective of the programme was to support innovation and creativity among the students.

“We want to ensure that they have the technology to use. While this is a start with the handing over of two kits to each of the schools, we would like to provide much more kits over the period of time from now to 2020” she said.

Senior Director, Public and Government Affairs, Deedra Moe of ExxonMobil expressed immense pleasure with the initiative.

“I’m very excited to be able to be a part of handing out robotics kits. Robotics can be a foundation for students to realize their passions, where they can communicate across different technology platforms and enhance team building and community development”, she explained.

Ms. Moe also expressed satisfaction with the work of ExxonMobil and the Volunteer Youth Corporation, along with the STEM programme, in empowering and moulding the youths of Guyana.

“The youths are the leaders of tomorrow”, she stated.
ExxonMobil Guyana has supported the Volunteer Youth Corps Inc. in the execution of its STEM Education initiatives since 2012. In April of this year, the company contributed $20M to the VYC for its 2019-2020 programme.

That was announced at the 6th Annual STEM Camp in April where Moe said that STEM Education was also extremely important globally, in terms of development— of countries, and of people and that was why ExxonMobil Guyana was supporting the Volunteer Youth Corps in STEM Education programmes.