Jamaican team mines two bronze at Robotics Olympics despite hurricane delay
Published:Monday | November 3, 2025 | 12:10 AMLester Hinds/Gleaner Writer
Jamaica’s 11- member team to the just-completed First Robotics Competition held in Panama City won two bronze medals at the 9th annual event, even after missing the first two full days of the competition.
The Jamaicans won bronze in the Alliances of Nations, finishing third out of 47 alliances. The other bronze medal was won in the Katherine Johnson Award category.
The 191 countries from around the world were broken into Alliances to compete against each other, and the Alliance with the Jamaican team finished third overall.
Donovan Wilson, president of the Union of Jamaica Alumni Associations (UJAA), the New York-based non-profit organisation that sponsored the team, said he was very pleased with their overall performance.
“You could see the focus. They came to win and despite missing the first two full days of the competition, they achieved their goal,” he said.
According to Wilson, this year’s team was very well prepared for the competition.
“You could see the determination by the team members,” he told The Gleaner.
The team, scheduled to leave Jamaica on October 27, was stuck in the island as Hurricane Melissa forced the closure of the country’s airports. The team eventually left for Panama City when Norman Manley International Airport reopened last Thursday.
The competition ran from October 29 to November 1.
Often referred to as the Robotics Olympics, this event pits high school teams from more than 190 countries – representing diverse backgrounds, languages, religions, and cultures – against each other as they compete in an international robotics challenge.
BOOT CAMP
Since June, high school students from across Jamaica have participated in an intensive FIRST Global boot camp to prepare for the competition and represent their schools and country with pride.
Since its inception in 2017, Team Jamaica Robotics has benefited from the full support and sponsorship of UJAA and its member alumni associations across the diaspora.
The competition is designed to inspire students to apply creativity, teamwork, and critical thinking as they design and build a robot from a standard kit of parts. Each year’s challenge draws from the 14 grand challenges for engineering identified by the National Academies of Engineering in the United States, United Kingdom, and China. The 2025 game, Eco Equilibrium, will challenge teams to develop innovative solutions using emerging technologies to explore, understand, and preserve biodiversity in their nations.
According to Wilson, who was in Panama City with the team, “The Global Robotics Olympics offers our students a unique opportunity to collaborate with peers from around the world, to innovate together, and to represent Jamaica with pride. Each year, our team proves that Jamaica is ‘likkle but tallawah’ – bringing home at least one of the 19 awards of excellence presented annually.
“It has always been UJAA’s contention that this programme provides Jamaican students with the expertise and exposure to a once-in-a-lifetime experience that not only allows them to engage with students from across the globe, but combines their accomplishment with encouragement and pride as true ambassadors of Jamaica for Jamaicans globally.
“This combination of skills is what our children need to help us solve global problems. This competition provides life-changing experiences.”
Wilson said the team members were very upbeat on Jamaica, telling everyone they could that despite the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa, the island will rise again.
Team Jamaica returns to the island tomorrow.
The Jamaican team comprised eight students and three coaches. The team members were:
1. Zara Sterling, Immaculate Conception
2. Rithvik Gogineni, Campion College
3. Matthew Williams, Campion College
4. Joelle Wright, Hillel Academy/St Andrew High
5. Keandra Genius, Immaculate Conception
6. Coach – Marc-Anthony Eaton, Jamaica College
7. Coach – Orville Daley, Jamaica College
8.Coach Gavin Samuels, Jamaica College
9. Chaperone – Annastazia Chin, Immaculate Conception
Additional student members of the team were:
10. Daniel Thomas, Kingston College
11. Noah Bayley-Hay, Hillel Academy
12. Jayden Hinds, Manning’s School