SDA Lego robotics team unsure of going to nationals

The Saipan Seventh-day Adventist School’s Lego robotics team wowed the judges, earning them several awards in last Sunday’s 10th Annual North Pacific Regional Robotics Challenge at the Walla Walla Valley Academy College Place in Washington.

They also received the admiration of the other competing teams as the Saipan SDA squad came from a small island thousands of miles away from the mainland and managed to overcome all odds to reap honors in the regionals.

The team, nicknamed the Guardians, topped the Robot Design category. while their Project Presentation—the research of turning waste to energy—also got first place honors. They also finished second in Core Values and finished second overall out of 15 competing teams.

Rannon Palacios, Sion Park, Miles Timmons, Cory Lee, and Harvey Zhang are the members of the Guardians. Palacios, Park, and Timmons were the only ones who traveled to Washington.

Clinching four awards, two of which are first place, the Guardians earned an invitation to the national tournament on May 1 in Sacramento, California. They are one of three teams from the North Pacific Region that earned the invitation.

Now comes the hard part, the Guardians—that represented the CNMI in the regionals—are unsure of competing in the nationals due to lack of funds. They only have less than two weeks to raise close to $15,000 to fund the trip of the entire team, all five members plus two guardians.

“Right now, we only have $2,000. There’s also a GoFundMe account but we won’t get all the money since they have an 8 percent fee. We’re hoping for a miracle and we remain positive,” said coach Melanie Stroud, who previously helped another Adventist-run school in Alaska win the Adventist Robotics League Nationals.

“We’re still hoping they can go and represent the CNMI. If there are still organizations that are more than willing to help us, they are always welcome. That’s a slight disadvantage on our part, it’s always hard to go back to the mainland,” said SDA School principal Michael Berglund.

“We didn’t know what to expect from them in the regionals since this is the first time an SDA school from Saipan is competing. They were also up against schools that have a lot more resources, but these kids surprised us,” added Berglund.

“The kids worked hard for this to get the project done. After school and during Sundays they work on the robot. We all know that the nationals is a much bigger competition, if ever they are going we just tell them the same thing, ‘represent the CNMI as best as you can.’”

Berglund also praised Stroud’s efforts of guiding the team. “Melanie has taught in all levels. She has helped these kids and taught them everything that she knew in Lego robotics. She has the experience since she previously coaches a team in Alaska to win the Nationals.”