Amazing, awesome, unbelievable, enjoyable and challenging are just some of the words that the Georgians used to describe the Lego Yuh Mind Day, put on by Halls of Learning, held at St George’s College last Friday.

St George’s College was the seventh school to be given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build and programme robots. But it was the first all-boys institution and the first of the seven schools to be sponsored.

Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) is the largest investment brokerage house in Jamaica and the Caribbean and has seen the importance of investing in this venture.

Not only did they lend financial support, but they provided a team of workers to participate in the workshop, adding to the 15 teams of three that were present. Coincidentally or not, St Georges’ is the alma mater of these workers, and it was obvious that these men were transformed into enthusiastic boys once again. Commendably, with teamwork, they were able to complete the Curve Turn, which is the first of three challenges, acting indeed, as role models.

Two teams, however, were exceptional.

The first team, Team 10, consisted of third formers, Clayton Harrison, Jamille Bowen and Saqlain Campbell. These boys were the first to programme their robot to move forward, move forward and back and attempt the Curve Turn.

Team Six, however, which consisted of second former, Simon-Christopher Chung and first formers, Akeem Nicholson and Shemar Williams, suddenly emerged and successfully completed the Curve Turn first.

This was worthy of praise because Team Six was the second to last team to build their robot.

This gave life to the sentiments of Marvin Hall, Founder of Halls of Learning, as he had always stated that anyone can build a robot quickly, but the true test lies in the challenges. “Sometimes in life,” Hall told the boys, “you don’t have to be fast, you just have to stick to the task and in the end, you may end up being ahead of the pack.” Team Six went on to attempt the second challenge, The Point Turn, although Team 10 was successful in completing it first.

What also made the St George’s experience stand out even more was that one of the instructors was a Georgian.

Fourth former Jonathan Bair has been with Halls of Learning since 2008, and admitted that although the experience has been incomparable to any, it has also helped in his school work, especially mathematics. This future roboticist sees the amazing opportunity he has been given and pointed out that this is one of the best choices a youth could make.

“In futuristic movies, one of the most prevalent things you see is robots,” he said when asked to state why this career choice would be best. “This clearly illustrates how the industry of Robotics will be instrumental in the future and will go under rapid expansion.”

Lego Yuh Mind Day will be held at Kingston College this Friday.

— Shantayaé Grant