Jamaica, and Antigua & Barbuda students dominant at the 2024 Caribbean STEM Olympiads
The Caribbean Science Foundation (CSF) held the second annual Caribbean STEM Olympiads (CSO) on 17 – 21 January 2024 in a virtual format. 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, 400, 300 and 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 8 medals, followed by Antigua and Barbuda with 6, Belize with 4, Barbados with 3, Saint Lucia with 2, and Grenada, Guyana, Saint Kitts & Nevis and Trinidad &Tobago with 1 each.
Regarding the most prestigious medals, Jamaica earned 2 platinum medals. A team consisting of Chad Wright, Micah Edwards and Sidan-E Walker who attend Campion College, but represented themselves, won the Level 1 Math Olympiad platinum medal, and Michaela Brown, Jamía Williamson, Kelsey Atkinstall and Kathryn McLean, also from Campion College but representing themselves, together won a platinum medal in the Level 2 Computer Coding Olympiad for their public-health focused project, “HospitalFlow.” From Belize, Giselie Garcia who attends Muffles College High School, but represented herself, won the platinum medal in the Level 1 Computer Coding Olympiad with her hurricane preparedness project titled “Protective Measures”. Avinda Dhoray, Saiesh Rampersad and Kovid Capildeo from Presentation College Chaguanas in Trinidad and Tobago, together won a platinum medal for stellar performance in the Level 2 Math Olympiad, while a team consisting of Kahlil Phillip, Rochelle Griffith and Tristan Pivotte, former students of T.A Marryshow Community College, Grenada, who are currently on a gap year, earned a platinum medal in the Level 3 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. 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.” Team Ravens of Jamaica, who won a silver medal in Level 2 Robotics said, “Thank you on behalf of Team Ravens; this experience was truly amazing, and we have learnt a lot from this opportunity to participate!” And then 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.”
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. For more information on the CSF, the Caribbean STEM Olympiads and other programmes run by the CSF, please visit https://caribbeanscience.org.
[Dear Journalists: The medalists by country, category and age level are summarized in the Table below. Photos for most of the teams can be found at the end of this document. Even more photos can be found here for teams from your country]
| 2024 CARIBBEAN STEM OLYMPIADS: MEDALISTS BY COUNTRY, EVENT AND AGE LEVEL | |||||
| Math Olympiad Level 1 | |||||
| Country | Team Name | Team Members | Representing | Medal | |
| Jamaica | Team CMS | Chad Wright, Micah Edwards, Sidan-E Walker | Self (Campion College) | Platinum | |
| St. Lucia | Mathmagicians | Anaiah Bousquet, Shanice Searles | Self (St. Joseph’s Convent) | Gold | |
| Belize | Muffles College | Miguel Pech, Rue Hung, Mannat Lalwani | Muffles College High School | Silver | |
| Jamaica | — | Ayeisha Mcpherson | Self (Immaculate Conception High) | Bronze | |
| Math Olympiad Level 2 | |||||
| Trinidad &
Tobago |
PCC Pi-rates | Avinda Dhoray, Kovid Capildeo, Saiesh Rampersad | Presentation College Chaguanas | Platinum | |
| Jamaica | KSM | Kayla Wright, Shandon McFarlane, Malique Flowers | Self (Campion College) | Gold | |
| Jamaica | J.A.C. | Jayden Clarke, Alano Wheatley, Cody Williamson | Self (Campion College) | Gold | |
| Barbados | Random Walk | Aian Deane-Warner, Nalani Chassang | Self (Queen’s College Secondary) | Bronze | |
| Math Olympiad Level 3 | |||||
| Grenada | Pythagorean Triples | Kahlil Phillip, Rochelle Griffith, Tristan Pivotte | Self (Gap Year, previously attended T.A Marryshow Community College) | Platinum | |
| Barbados | Psi-Kicks | Simeon Green, Ian Francis, Tyreke Jones | Self (UWI – Cave Hill) | Gold | |
| Jamaica | — | Mishkah Melbourne, Max Leiba | Glenmuir High School | Silver | |
| Jamaica | Mathician | Alrique Beckford | Self (University of Technology) | Silver | |
| Computer Coding Olympiad Level 1 | ||||||
| Country | Team Name | Team Members | Representing | Project Title | Medal | |
| Belize | Bobcat | Giselie Garcia | Self (Muffles College High School) | Protective Measures | Platinum | |
| Belize | Techtactic | Osmar Lopez, Ryan Coc, Jaevanie, De Paz, Mannat Lalwani | Muffles College High School | Quest of Survival | Gold | |
| Saint Kitts & Nevis | CoolXing | Abhijith Srinivasan | Self (Charlestown Secondary) | Danger Dash | Silver | |
| Guyana | — | Tejasvarun Kandavel | Queen’s College | Adventuring Climate Change | Bronze | |
| Computer Coding Olympiad Level 2 | ||||||
| Jamaica | Island Hacks | Michaela Brown, Jamía Williamson, Kelsey Atkinstall, Kathryn McLean | Self (Campion College) | HospitalFlow | Platinum | |
| Antigua & Barbuda | FrostByte | Ajanté Fraser | Self (UWI 5 Islands) | Disaster Ready Caribbean | Gold | |
| Belize | Team CATALYST | Lia Hunt, Aden Zabaneh, Maliyah Casey, Daniel Sharp | Belize High School | MyCRIME | Silver | |
| Antigua & Barbuda | Bread Man | Adrian Judnarine | Patrick Lake Learning Institution | Get There | Bronze | |
| Computer Coding Olympiad Level 3 | ||||||
| Antigua & Barbuda | Bread Man | Adrian Judnarine | Patrick Lake Learning Institution | Mindful Mate | Gold | |
| Antigua & Barbuda | Weather Machine | Saiyan Jacobs | Antigua State College | Weather Monitor | Gold | |
| Antigua & Barbuda | The Pennies | Ajanté Fraser, Emmanuel Chiddick, D’Chaiya Emmanuel | Self (UWI: 5 Islands; Antigua State Coll.; Gap year) | PennyWise | Silver | |
| Robotics Olympiad Level 2 | |||||
| Country | Team Name | Team Members | Representing | Project Title | Medal |
| Barbados | Kolij Robotics Club | Jovani Gittens, Nathan Nicholls, Tykairi Sargeant, Maliqua Cherubin | Harrison College | Plant Care Robot | Silver |
| Jamaica | Team Ravens | Vance Tyndale, Dejaunay Hylton, Malique Powell, Ramiro Guyah | St. Jago High School | Iterations | Silver |
| Antigua & Barbuda | Bread Man | Adrian Judnarine | Patrick Lake Learning Institution | Solar Tracker | Bronze |
| Robotics Olympiad Level 3 | |||||
| Saint Lucia | Light Creations | Faith Robinson | Self (Vieux-Fort Comprehensive) | DRD v1 | Bronze |
To Journalists:
Please choose your photos depending on country. If you wish to see more photos than those provided below, additional photos labelled by country, category, team and medal can be found here. Please select the ones you need!
“PCC Pi-rates”, from Presentation College Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago, consisting of team members Avinda Dhoray, Saiesh Rampersad and Kovid Capildeo clinched the platinum medal in the Level 2 Math Olympiad.
Giselie Garcia from Muffles College High School, Belize, formed a single-person team named “Bobcat” and clinched the platinum medal in the Level 1 Computer Coding Olympiad for her project “Protective Measures”, a hurricane preparedness video game.
Osmar Lopez, Ryan Coc, Jaevanie De Paz and Mannat Lalwani from Muffles College, Belize, formed team Techtactic and won the gold medal in the Level 1 Computer Coding Olympiad for their video game, “Quest of Survival”, aimed at educating players about natural disasters in the Region.
“Island Hacks”, an all-girls, platinum-winning team in the Level 2 Computer Coding Olympiad, consisting of Michaela Brown, Jamía Williamson, Kelsey Atkinstall and Kathryn McLean of Campion College, Jamaica. Their project “HospitalFlow” focused on expediting and digitizing the registration process at hospitals.
Chad Wright, Micah Edwards and Sidan-E Walker of “Team CMS” from Jamaica captured the platinum medal for the Level 1 Math Olympiad.
“Team Ravens” consisting of Vance Tyndale, Dejaunay Hylton, Malique Powell and Ramiro Guyah of St. Jago High School, Jamaica earned a silver medal in the Robotics Level 2 Olympiad.
Kahlil Phillip, Rochelle Griffith and Tristan Pivotte from Grenada won the platinum medal for their performance in the Level 3 Math Olympiad.
Team “Psi-Kicks” consisting of Simeon Green, Ian Francis and Tyreke Jones of UWI – Barbados earned the gold medal in the Math Level 3 Olympiad.
Kolij Robotics Club team members, Tykairi Sargeant, Maliqua Cherubin, Jovani Gittens and Nathan Nicholls of Harrison College, Barbados, earned a silver medal in the Level 2 Robotics Olympiad for their Plant Care Robot.
Tejasvarun Kandavel of Queen’s College, Guyana won the bronze medal in the Level 1 Computer Coding Olympiad for his video game focused on climate change awareness titled “Adventuring Climate Change”.
Anaiah Bousquet and Shanice Searles of “The Mathmagicians” of St. Lucia earned the gold medal in the Level 1 Math Olympiad.
Faith Robinson from Vieux-Fort Comprehensive, Saint Lucia, earned a bronze medal in the Level 3 Robotics Olympiad for her project “DRD v1” that attempted to build a robotic dragon fly.
Adrian Judnarine who represented The Patrick Lake Learning Institution in Antigua & Barbuda, won one gold medal in the Level 3 Computer Coding Olympidad for his mental health AI companion called “Mindful Mate”, a bronze medal in the Level 2 Coding Olympiad for his travel and vacationing app “Get There”, and a second bronze medal in Level 2 Robotics Olympiad for progress on his “Solar Tracker” photovoltaic energy generation project.
Ajanté Fraser from Antigua and Barbuda won the gold medal for his Level 2 Computer Coding project “Disaster Ready Caribbean”. Ajanté also won a silver medal with his teammates Emmanuel Chiddick and D’Chaiya Emmanuel for their Level 3 Computer Coding project “PennyWise”, a website that focused on driving economic empowerment and financial knowledge.
Abhijith Srinivasan of Charlestown Secondary, Saint Kitts & Nevis, earned a silver medal in Level 1 of the Computer Coding Olympiad for his project “Danger Dash” a video game that focused on raising awareness about geohazards in the Region.
Teams in Math Level 1 Olympiad Finals
Teams in Math Level 2 Olympiad Finals
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Enough respect and congratulations to my countries of Grenada and Antigua and to the World Boss and Economic Powehouse of the OECS. Congratulations my peoples. We small but we talawah become from Mother Africa. The cradle of humanity.
Congrats to all the students who participated and a special congratulations to the winners.
As appreciative Thank You, to The Sponsers who underwrite the costs.
A special Thank You to the teachers and coaches as well as to The Parents
Looking foward to next year, and more of these activities across the Caribbean.
@ Sharon Lycorish,
Gaston Browne depends on “imported crackpots” like you, to boost his state of mind given his lack of morals.
CONGRATULATIONS to ALL the Students and Teachers!
S.T.E.A.M. – Science, Technology, Engineering, ARTS and Mathematics is an approach to learning, as access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking.
S.T.E.M. to S.T.E.A.M. Movement has been taking root over the past several years.
Researcher Georgette Yakman is the brainchild and was first developed in 2006.
It’s time to develop #Critical_Thinkers who are able to balance both sides of their brains, in a cognitive manner.
Cricket Players can be Engineers too!
Basketball players can be AgroScientist too!
Jumbee_Picknee aka Ras Smood
De’ole Dutty Peg🦶🏿Garrat_Bastard
Vere C. Edwards
The majority of Antiguan and Barbudan males leave school semi-illiterate.
Unfortunately these students are the exception.
Further, Caribbean education is not designed to produce critical thinking skills. It’s curriculum and teaching styles are designed rote and regurgitation. Remember what’s in the text book and become an accountant, a lawyer or a doctor.
Critical thinking is an anathema in these parts.
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