This month, STEMGuyana will celebrate some of our special young people who continue to navigate the path of STEM education having joined STEMGuyana’s STEM club program over the course of the past 5 years.  Lucas Simpson is one such young man, who joined STEMGuyana’s Sports Hall STEM club in 2019 and who is today a jr. Camp Counselor with STEMGuyana–inspiring, teaching and mentoring others, the way he was mentored over the years.  Lucas’s story reinforces the importance, not just of STEM education, but of providing long term clubs and programs which allow children long term opportunities from which to build and nurture relationships, strengthen their technical skills, improve their self-confidence and leadership skills and prepare for any career eventuality in 21st century world.  STEMGuyana club members are essentially members for life.

From a very young age, Lucas Tyler Wyatt Simpson possessed a knack for being able to create elaborate and intricate pieces from Legos including spaceships, transformers and battle-bots.  Following the conclusion of the NGSA exams in 2019, Lucas was enrolled in the STEMGuyana summer robotics program, where he immediately found his niche among the receivers, sensors and codes.  Under the guidance of the learned and patient coaches at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall STEM club, Lucas was able to develop his ability to conceive, design and build robots.  When asked what was the best thing about being part of the STEM club, Lucas responded that he was allowed to explore his creative side without limitations as the coaches wholly encouraged him to pursue his ‘unusual’ robotics concepts. Lucas further added that in addition to developing his personal skills, being a part of STEM has taught him the value and importance of teamwork.

In both 2020 and 2021 and Lucas was selected to be part of the jr. national robotics team that represented Guyana at the International Youths Robotics Competition (IYRC) in Korea, achieving bronze medals in both instances. Lucas credits the success of the teams to the hard work and dedication put into drafting, testing and applying programming skills until the robots were fit for the competition. Lucas has also been selected to be part of Guyana’s IYRC 2022 robotics team.  The 2022 teams are currently awaiting results after submitting their robots to the competition’s selection committee.

A Junior Camp Counselor with STEM this summer, Lucas is currently working with children enrolled at the beginners level which he says, gives him the opportunity to impart knowledge of robotics to fellow future engineers. Lucas credits his accomplishments in robotics to the unwavering support, dedication and hands-on approach of STEMGuyana Founder, Ms Karen Abrams and to his favorite coaches, Aisha and Dominic. Recently, Lucas found out that he was successful in being streamed into Tech-Engineering at St Rose’s High School.  Lucas is a credit to our great land of Guyana, we wish him continued success in all of his endeavors.