Palacios, Park cherish Lego robotics experience

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.

“Each 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,” said the usually shy Palacios, a sixth grader.

“It was a pretty good experience. We get to see what the other teams had to offer, know other things, and see other places,” added Park, who went to the U.S. for the first time.

Palacios said that almost everyone they met in the regionals don’t know and never heard about Saipan or the CNMI. “That’s why we keep telling them it is near Guam whenever they asked where Saipan is,” she added smiling.

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.

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—the research of turning waste to energy—and also finishing second in Core and second overall out of 15 competing teams.

“We 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,” said Park.

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.

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.

Stroud, who previously helped another Adventist-run school in Alaska win the Adventist Robotics League Nationals, said they only have $2,250 so far.

The Adventist Robotics League and Walla Walla University’s Edward F. Cross School of Engineering sponsors the event in cooperation with the First Lego League and the Junior FLL.

MEGAbyte Saipan, Saipan SDA Dental Clinic with the doctors and staff, Café Mango Six, and Best Sunshine International, Ltd. helped fund the team’s trip to Washington.