Eleven Jamaica College (JC) students who were ranked best at building their own robot are now in the USA gearing up to compete against their peers from across the world.
JC won the local leg of the inaugural FIRST Tech Challenge National Robotics Championships in March after emerging ahead of other top high schools.
Now qualified for the space-themed championships, dubbed 'Rover Ruckus' — being held in Houston, Texas from today to Saturday — the JC boys will vie for the prestigious Inspire Award which provides opportunities for them to secure scholarships from local and international universities.
Members of the winning team received smartphones courtesy of Digicel and were also among the first to be signed up for the company's new 'Hit the Ground Roaming' plans, now available in over 60 countries — featuring lower call rates, free incoming calls, generous allotments of bundled minutes and up one gigabyte of data.
The students and their teachers have already been able to make and receive calls, send photos and videos to friends and family back home.
“We are proud to be supporting Jamaica's young innovation ambassadors and we wish them all the best as they compete against some of the brightest minds from across the world,” a company release quotes Digicel's Public Relations and Communications Manager Elon Parkinson. “Being able to stay connected and to share their journey in Houston is very important to the team members, and we are happy that our new roaming plans give them the right amount of minutes and megabytes to do so.”
In thanking Digicel, Jamaica College Principal Wayne Robinson said: “It's a good fit and Digicel has been a good technology partner to us. Giving the boys access and phones means that even while they're on the road travelling they can use mobile data to send back all the lovely pictures.”
Digicel said that as Jamaica's digital lifestyle partner it is also focused on expanding opportunities for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) learning in schools across Jamaica.
The company recently hosted students from St George's College and Immaculate Conception High School for a live streaming of Research Day from Durham College in Ontario, Canada — rated as one of Canada's leading tertiary-level institutions for applied research that helps to develop practical technology solutions for real-world problems.
Prior to this, the Digicel Foundation opened its latest renovated science lab at St Catherine High School.
Source: Jamaica Observer