Shell, NIHERST launch Lego, robotic competition

Children between the ages of nine and 16 will compete in a Lego and robotics tournament – the First Lego League: Superpowered – hosted by the National Institute of Higher Education, Research Science and Technology (NIHERST), in collaboration with Shell TT, for $125,000 in prizes. The launch was hosted at the Ministry of Education headquarters in Port of Spain, on Wednesday.

Social performance and social investment adviser at Shell, Ryssa Brathwaite, remembered playing with the blocks as a child, and like an engineer, designed cities and model cars.

"Now as a mother, I'm always trying to not break my ankle on some of the Lego on the floor."

Brathwaite said Shell has sponsored the competition for five years. The reason why, she explained was, "not only do the staff love it, but they look forward to working with the students, mentoring them. They ask for it, demand to be referees.

"But we, at Shell, care a lot about STREAM – science, technology, research, engineering, art and math. Together, with the ministry, we have been able to provide training in STREAM experiences to over 50,000 children at 178 schools between 2019 and 2022. We couldn't do it without NIHERST.

"We want children to be motivated to pursue careers related to STEM. Children are not doing as well in the sciences and math as we hope. These are the subjects that help to build a nation. We want to be a part of that journey." STEM is science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Minister in the Ministry of Education Lisa Morris-Julian
said, "Lego education, and the theme of superpower, is well-positioned at a time when the Marvel and DC comics are grabbing our children's experiences and imagination. The last two years of animation, streaming services, online gaming and 3D graphics have held our children in their grip. So this is our opportunity to bring them back home. This project is guaranteed to spark great creativity and innovative thought among our students."

Twenty teams have registered with NIHERST since November, last year, and the national championship will occur in May at the National Cycling Centre in Couva. In the coming months, teams will attend workshops on robotics and must design and build a functional Lego robot.

Physics teacher at East Mucurapo Secondary, Mark Seeram, said, "We now building up the team. Since inception East Mucurapo has been involved, only one year we didn't really participate. The students build the robot and I just assist. YouTube does have a lot, but the children come with their ideas. I'm a novice myself."

Asked what he hoped to gain from the competition, East Mucurapo student Levi Thomas, 12, said, "Well, I really want to learn how to code because I really want to become a software engineer, but at the moment I'm just a beginner, so this is all new to me."

Form five students at Trinity College, Justin Singh and Israel Thomas also have high hopes for the competition. This is their first time in a robotics competition, but their childhoods were filled with Legos. Singh hoped to develop his team-working and problem-solving skills, and to have fun.

Thomas said, "When I was younger, I used to play with Lego a lot but as I came into secondary school I got introduced to different things. We had a STEM club in form one but it was temporarily discontinued, so I lost a bit of interest. But my friend, Justin, builds Lego really well. Every time I see his stuff, it really inspires me. When Justin told me to join the STEM club and about the Lego competition I got excited and I thought if I joined, I could get a new-found love for it. The more I see the stuff, the more interest I have for it. I'm really excited to learn more about the robotics."