First Lady, Sandra Granger held a congratulatory lunch at State House for the STEM Guyana Team which brought back the Albert Einstein Gold Medal for excellence from a robotics Olympics competition held in Dubai.

At the small ceremony under the Baridi Benab, the First Lady explained that Guyana placed 39th overall in the competition amongst 195 participating countries, which she said is equivalent to placing in the top 25 per cent.

However, Guyana was awarded the gold medal after being selected by the judges as the most deserving team. The First Lady said that the award is not just given to the team with the best performing robot, but it is also given to the team which demonstrated exemplary team work and resilience.

“What was shown was the resilience and the flexibility and the stamina of our young people who went to those Olympics,” Mrs. Granger said. Founder of STEM Guyana, Karen Abrams said that the children overcame many stressful roadblocks, and displayed remarkable resilience.

Abrams noted too that it was the overall conduct and professionalism displayed by the team that made them cop the award, and being the selected role models for the games. She extended much gratitude to the First Lady. “None of this would have been possible had the first lady not shown tremendous vision back in 2016, when she reminded me of the plans we made for bringing robotics in Guyana. And since then she has been a fearless advocate, a partner, and a strong pillar of support for Stem Guyana,” Abrams said.
Mentor and coach of the team, Arrianna Mahase said that she has been a part of the team since 2017, and from her experience, robotics can be used as a deterrent to crime for the youths of Guyana.

“I’ve seen how robotics impacted the lives of students. Every year that they travel and come back, I’ve seen changes in them, like personal growth in those students. In youths in Guyana, we have issues where they are going off to crime and so on. Robotics is one of those fields we can implement because you don’t necessarily need a high level of education and all those things. When I started in 2017, I had no idea about robotics; I didn’t know to put a screw together with a nut. Today, I’m the mentor of the team. So it really shows that you need a high level of education, we can pull students from everywhere in Guyana regardless of their backgrounds,” the young woman said.

Mahase said that technology is a growing field and there are scope, potential and opportunity. “There is still a limited number in tech and so many fields, persons can get into other than robotics. The opportunities are there, they will get jobs, they just have to start,” she advised.

The programme was attended by several other ministers and government officials, including Minister of State, Dawn Hastings; Minister of Telecommunications, Catherine Hughes; Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry; Director of Sports, Christopher Jones, and others. Minister Hughes gave each member a plaque and an electronic tablet as a token of motivation to continue doing amazing things for Guyana.