John Gray High School teams win inter-school robotics competition

Minds Inspired 2024 FIRST Tech Challenge put students’ STEM skills to the test

A pair of teams from John Gray High School (JGHS) emerged as winners of the 2024 FIRST Tech Challenge presented by Minds Inspired, as students from seven schools in Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac showcased their STEM (science, technology, education and mathematics) education and put themselves in a position to earn spots on the national robotics team.

The challenge held at the Arts and Recreation Centre in Camana Bay on 24 February encouraged students to think like engineers in teams to design, build and programme robots to perform tasks as they competed in an alliance format against other teams.

“Robotics is a fun, challenging, real-world way to bring STEM subjects out of textbooks and into our classrooms. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – STEM – are central to everything today’s students do and learn, and more importantly, they play a role in every industry and career,” said Dart Senior Manager of Education Programmes Glenda McTaggart, who manages Minds Inspired programmes.

“It was really encouraging to witness the spirit of competition, as students were eager to showcase their understanding of robotics,” she added.

John Gray High School (JGHS) defeated an alliance of teams from Cayman Prep & High School and Triple C School in the final to take home the winners’ trophy. Other participating schools were Cayman International School, Clifton Hunter High School, St. Ignatius Catholic School and Layman E. Scott Sr. High School in Cayman Brac.

John Gray High School teacher and coach Desmond White noted that the competition helped students with their overall development. “This programme teaches so many things to our students – not only the robotics element, but it also teaches teamwork and collaboration, it teaches the mechanical skills used in building the robot, and coding to be able to programme the robot to work,” he said.

“Problem solving is another critical area because the robot never works perfectly the first time. We often have to go back and tweak things, so it teaches them to stick with it to the end to ensure they get a good product,” added White, who is also the coach of the national robotics team.

Marissa Wright, a member of the winning John Gray High School alliance said participating in the Minds Inspired robotics programme helped expose her to a world of opportunities that she had not previously considered. 

“Initially, I wanted to pursue something in the medical field and joined robotics just as a hobby. I didn’t know if I would have a passion for it and then I went through my first year and it helped me develop so much. I learned how to work under pressure and it made me realise what I want to be. Now, I want to be a robotics engineer. This really helped me recognise my passion for engineering and robotics,” the Year 12 student said.

In addition to the top prize, one of the JGHS teams took home the Judges Award, while one of two Cayman Prep & High School teams earned the Inspire Award based on how members shared their experiences, enthusiasm and knowledge with other teams and the judges. The Innovation and Engineering Design Award was presented to St. Ignatius Catholic School for their ingenuity and inventiveness to make their designs come to life. Triple C School won the Team Spirit Award for their display of enthusiasm and spirit through exceptional partnership and teamwork.

The event also served as a pre-qualifier for nomination to the Cayman Islands National Robotics Team that will compete in the FIRST Global Challenge in October against their peers from around the world. Previous national teams have competed in Mexico City, Dubai, Switzerland and last year in Singapore. The venue for the 2024 competition has not yet been announced.