THE Caribbean Science Foundation (CSF) held the second annual Caribbean STEM Olympiads (CSO) from January 17 – 21, 2024, in a virtual format.

According to a press release, in these Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Olympiads, individuals and teams representing educational institutions, clubs or themselves competed in the (a) Math Olympiad, (b) Computer Coding Olympiad and (c) Robotics Olympiad at three different age levels (12 – 15, 16 – 18 and 19 – 21).

The Math Olympiad was held in a Jeopardy-style format and covered topics ranging from consumer arithmetic to vector calculus.

The Computer Coding Olympiad tasked applicants to create apps, games, and websites aimed at solving a challenge faced by Caribbean communities.

The challenges tackled by teams in the 2024 Olympiads included geohazards and climate change, inter and intra country transportation, public health, non-communicable diseases, crime, and money movement and financial education.

The Robotics Olympiad tasked applicants with building innovative robots from kits at Level I, and complex robots starting from scratch with a set of random parts at Level III.

A total of 131 students from 11 Caribbean countries registered for the 2024 Olympiads. After the preliminary rounds, 39 teams (83 students) made it to the finals. There were 47 finalists in the Math Olympiad, 22 in the Computer Coding Olympiad, and 14 in the Robotics Olympiad.

Medal certificates and cash prizes of US$500, US$400, US$300 and US$200 were awarded to the teams winning platinum, gold, silver, and bronze medals, respectively.

The Awards and Closing Ceremony, held on Sunday 21 January 2024, revealed that Jamaica led the medal count with eight medals, followed by Antigua and Barbuda with six, Belize with four, Barbados with three, Saint Lucia with two, and Grenada, Guyana, Saint Kitts & Nevis and Trinidad &Tobago with one each.

The bronze medal for Guyana was earned in Level I of the Computer Coding Olympiad by Tejasvarun Kandavel of Queen’s College for his video game “Adventuring Climate Change” which focused on climate change awareness.

Guyana also had two other finalist teams in the Olympiads, 12-year-old Temidara Oyedotun from School of the Nations who competed in the Level I Math Olympiad and “QC’s Mc²” consisting of Angel Henry, Samara Munro and Ariel Mohanlall from Queen’s College Guyana who also competed in the Level I Math Olympiad.

Professor Cardinal Warde, the Interim Executive Director of the CSF reported that “the STEM outlook for the Region is very positive.

This year we raised the bar a little higher than it was in the inaugural year (2023) for the Math Olympiad, and I was again impressed by the performance of the medalists.

To further raise the bar for our robotics and coding efforts, starting in April of 2024 the CSF will offer coaching sessions for interested robotics and coding teams to help them prepare for our 2025 Robotics and Computer Coding Olympiads.”

The competing students also had a lot to say. Tejasvarun Kandavel, a 13-year-old student from Guyana who won a bronze medal in the Level I Computer Coding Olympiad said, “I would like to thank the CSF for giving me the opportunity to participate in the Coding Olympiad Finals. I would also like to thank the judges for reviewing my project and giving me feedback on how to improve it.”

One of the finalists, Temidara Oyedotun, also from Guyana, stated, “I enjoyed how calming and caring the staff, judges and the overall atmosphere of the competition was, and these Olympiads now bolden me to continue competing in STEM Olympiads”. And then “QC’s Mc²” another finalist team said: “Thank you for allowing us to participate in this wonderful competition. We were able to learn so much and improve as a team. It was very stressful but fulfilling”.

Platinum medalist, “Team PCC Pi-rates” from Trinidad and Tobago stated: “We would like to thank the CSF for hosting this competition as it helped to develop our analytical and critical thinking skills and we were able to apply everything we learnt in order to achieve success. We look forward to next year’s competition.”

The Institutional sponsors included CIBC, Emera Caribbean, Peloton International, Trident Insurance, and TAG software.

The Caribbean STEM Olympiads is an initiative of the CSF – a regional non-profit NGO with the mission of assisting with the development and diversification of the economies of the Caribbean Region by promoting STEM education reform and stimulating technology-based entrepreneurship.