With their trip to the Lego robotics Nationals hanging in the balance, Saipan Seventh-day Adventist School team members Rannon Palacios and Sion Park are relishing the experience of competing in the 10th Annual North Pacific Regional Robotics Challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach of us talked during the presentation. It was very fun talking about our project. It made us comfortable and we became confident because of the experience,\u201d said the usually shy Palacios, a sixth grader.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a pretty good experience. We get to see what the other teams had to offer, know other things, and see other places,\u201d added Park, who went to the U.S. for the first time.<\/p>\n
Palacios said that almost everyone they met in the regionals don\u2019t know and never heard about Saipan or the CNMI. \u201cThat\u2019s why we keep telling them it is near Guam whenever they asked where Saipan is,\u201d she added smiling.<\/p>\n
Palacios and Park, along with teammate Miles Timmons and coach Melissa Stroud, competed in the regionals last week held at the Walla Walla Valley Academy College Place in Washington. They went home with several awards to earn an invitation to the nationals in California.<\/p>\n
Cory Lee and Harvey Zhang were the other members of the team that clinched four awards in the Walla Walla regionals. They won the Robot Design category and the best in Project Presentation\u2014the research of turning waste to energy\u2014and also finishing second in Core and second overall out of 15 competing teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were not expecting anything. We just came there to compete and do our best like what Ms. Stroud and others at SDA told us. We were surprised to win and finish second overall,\u201d said Park.<\/p>\n
Those awards were enough to earn the team, nicknamed the Guardians, an invitation to the national finals on May 1 in Sacramento, California. They are one of three teams from the North Pacific Region that got invited.<\/p>\n
The team, however, remains uncertain of making it to the nationals as they lack the needed funds for the trip. The entire team plus two guardians need close to $10,000 for the trip and if ever they are going they need to leave Saipan on April 28 to make it in time for the tournament.<\/p>\n
Stroud, who previously helped another Adventist-run school in Alaska win the Adventist Robotics League Nationals, said they only have $2,250 so far.<\/p>\n
The Adventist Robotics League and Walla Walla University\u2019s Edward F. Cross School of Engineering sponsors the event in cooperation with the First Lego League and the Junior FLL.<\/p>\n
MEGAbyte Saipan, Saipan SDA Dental Clinic with the doctors and staff, Caf\u00e9 Mango Six, and Best Sunshine International, Ltd. helped fund the team\u2019s trip to Washington. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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