Our Lady of Grace Senior High School (OLAG SHS), Mamponteng has once again risen to the challenge in the arena of robotics.

Participating for the second consecutive time, the Citadel of Excellence exhibited its prowess on the global stage as it clinched the fourth position out of 24 contesting teams in the Supply Chain Challenge of the 2023 ROBOFEST World Championship in the United States.

The ROBOFEST World Championship is a series of robotics competitions for students from fourth grade through college. This year’s championship was held at Lawrence Technological University in Michigan, USA from May 10 to May 13, 2023.

Team Cyber-Mac from OLAG SHS, Mamponteng together with AI Kudus from the Right to Dream Academy got the nod to represent Ghana in the coveted Game Category of the Championship after they placed first and second respectively at the national qualifiers held in Accra on January 21, 2023.

Contesting in the Game Category, Team Cyber-Mac of OLAG SHS showed passion and brilliance in the arduous task of building and programming a robot to bring order to a port and restock a store. Activities included moving cans to a port area and stacking them, moving tennis balls to a store area and finally removing obstacles from a competition table.

The team was captained by Jennifer Emefa Agbedor, a final year General Science student, with the other team members being Kathy Gyesey, a final year General Arts student, Amy Ruth DoeAddo, a final General Science student, and Martha Naa Okailey-Afful and Frederick Appiagyei, both second year General Science students. These young chaps, assisted by the two coaches of the Ghana Robotics Academy Foundation (GRAF), Messrs. Michael Wilson and Leslie Joppa paraded their sense of teamwork to hoist the flag of Ghana high among the 24 contesting teams in the category.

Team Cybar-Mac came just behind the Creativity Explode of Cheng Yi Senior High School of Taiwan, Royal Robots of Annapolis West Education Centre of Canada, and the RoboWarriors from Troy Youth Centre of Turkey who took the first, second and third positions respectively.

Awarded a trophy, each team member of Cyber-Mac received a medal, certificate of participation and a $3,000 scholarship per year if they choose to undertake their undergraduate studies in the Lawrance Technological University.

OLAG school Board and management are grateful to all who made this trip a success. Mention should be made of Dr. Oteng Gyasi of Robotics Club, Christian Service University, Kumasi who happens to be the head-coach of the team as well as the coordinators of robotics in the school, Mr. Zacheus Amoako and Mr. Sampson Asiedu for their immense sacrifices. Also deserving of resounding praise is the Ghana Robotics Academy Foundation headed by Dr. Yaw Okereku-Yirenkye and his team of volunteering coaches, Michael Wilson and Leslie Joppa who guided the
students during the competition.

Special mention should be made of the leadership of the Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited for sponsoring the cost of processing the travelling documents of the team members. To the major donors of the school, Warren and Mary Lynn Staley in Edina, Minnesota, USA, the school is grateful to you for providing all the needed tools and equipment to make the learning of robotics, and in fact STEAM education in general so successful in the school, and for sponsoring the air tickets, accommodation, feeding and ground travels of the team.
OLAG SHS, truly a citadel of excellence!