Micronesia's Habele Robo League expands into Kosrae

 

High school students on the tiny Micronesian island of Kosrae will be building, programming and competing their own advanced robots for the first time. Located at the remote eastern end of the Federated States of Micronesia, this island of less than seven thousand inhabitants is renowned for its pristine waters and lush mountain landscape.

In partnership with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs, Habele is providing equipment, training and support for the formation of Kosrae’s first-ever “Kosrae Robo League.” The Habele Robotics League has collaborated with public and private schools across the FSM since 2012, beginning in Yap, and expanding to Chuuk and Pohnpei States in 2018. Now, high school students on Kosrae will join their peers across the FSM in mastering science and technology concepts in an innovative, hands-on way.

"Robo Day" Big Win for Students in Micronesia

Robo Day 2019 is in the record books for students in Yap, Chuuk and Pohnpei States. After a year of training, planning, and strategizing, students from participating high schools in each of these states met to exhibit their skills in the spirit of friendly competition. For Chuuk and Pohnpei, Robo Day 2019 represented their first year of participation in the Habele Robo League. While Yap State has blazed a trail with robotics for over five years now, their Robo Day competition also saw new faces. Neighboring Islands Central High School (NICHS) from remote Woleai Atoll, and Yap International Christian School both fielded teams for the first time.

Robotics League Grows Across Micronesia

Fourteen new high schools across Yap, Chuuk and Pohnpei States have been equipped and trained to participate in the Western Pacific’s only high school robotics league. Throughout December of 2018, Habele Outer Island Education Fund provided technical instruction to staff and students from public and private high schools across these three states. The training workshops began in Pohnpei, and culminated in instructional sessions on the remote Woleai Atoll in Yap State. Woleai’s Neighboring Islands Central High School represents the most isolated partner school to join the robotics league, and rounds out the list of every high school across Yap State who will field a team for the 2019 Yap Robo Day.

“Most of the students we’re training have no experience with robotics,” says Amelia Weiss, Habele’s Director of STEM. “Even without background training, these young people catch on fast, and are going to do great things."

Team members design and build their own complex robots, learning important Science, Technology, Engineering and Math skills in a hands-on way. Over the course of the coming semester, clubs will prepare to exhibit their newfound skills in “Robo Day” events, which provide an outlet for friendly competition and community interaction. Independent Robo Day competitions will be held for participants in Pohnpei, Chuuk and Yap States.

""Each participating Pohnpei High Schools has formed their respective Robotics Clubs in their schools, and are all excited with the new program, says Russell Figueras, Vice Principal of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School. "Building their own robots was fun and easy way of understanding programming."


Formerly a program for high schools in Yap State, the Habele Robotics League expanded to include partners in Chuuk and Pohnpei with the help of a  2018 grant from the Office of Insular Affairs.

High Tech Robots in Remote Micronesian Islands

Student achievement and the US-Micronesian partnership were on display this week in Yap, as five high schools battled it out in an elimination style robotics competition.

Yap Robo Day was the culmination of a school year long project in which student led teams designed and built robots. The League provides students at remote island schools practical experience in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).

Island Students Striving Toward Robotics Competition

Scale, isolation, and limited natural resources are major barriers to economic development in the many tiny islands of Micronesia.

The islands of this remote and strategically situated nation span a length nearly the distance from Los Angeles to New York across the remote Western Pacific

These challenges aren’t stopping hard ambitious students of the Yap Robo League. Students from five of Yap State’s high schools have been working to design, build, and operate complex robots constructed from simple parts, and will showcase their achievement in a public competition and science fair this May.

World-class training for Robotics Students in Yap

(Colonia, Yap) Island students have been receiving high tech training in the design and construction of robots as the five high schools of the Yap Robo League work towards their goal of a statewide robotics competition next spring.

Habele’s Director of STEM Programs, Amelia Weiss, first met with participating school leaders on Yap in early December. A series of workshops, site visits, and peer-to-peer trainings followed. Administrators, teachers, and select students from Yap High School, Outer Islands High School, Yap Catholic High School, Yap SDA School, and Faith Christian Academy participated throughout.

Send books to students in Pohnpei!

Kolonia Elementary School needs your help!

The school’s library desperately needs books, both for students, as well as for their parents and other community members who enjoy reading.

Robotics Kits Arrive in Yap, Remote Island of Stone Money

Yap Catholic High School Student opening their third box of robotics parts

Students on Micronesia's famously traditional Island of Stone Money have begun to design and assemble hi-tech programmable robots.

Robotics clubs at five high schools in Yap received VEX Classroom and Competition Mechatronics kits earlier this month, kicking off expansion of the popular Yap Robo League.

Using the raw parts, students will design, build, and code robots to compete in a statewide STEM exhibition and robotics competition in May. Yap’s Robo League was established in 2011 by the US-based nonprofit “Habele,” and is now expanding across that state through a pilot grant award by the Office of Insular Affairs.

Parents, Educators, & Leaders talk Robots in Yap

Three students from Yap represented the Federated States of Micronesia at an international robotics competition in Washington DC this summer. One of nearly two hundred national and regional teams competing, the Micronesian students bested seasoned squads from developed nations including the United States and France.

Now there is talk of expanding the modest “Yap Robo League,” allowing more island students the opportunity to engage in robotics through high school based clubs and classes in the remote Western Pacific.

Micronesia Students Proudly Compete in Robotics "Olympics"

Three students from Yap State proudly represented the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) at an international high school robotics competition this July in Washington DC.

Natasha Loochaz, John Steven Gilinug, and Francis Yarofalyango, comprised Team Micronesia, and joined students from over 150 other nations at the event.

Over several months each team designed, built, and programmed, their own complex robot based on the same simple parts kit, bringing the robots to the FIRST Global Challenge in DC for the matches and exhibition. In the arena, robots were organized into teams of three, battling to quickly gather and sort plastic balls representing clean water and contaminated water.

Private Scholarships Offer Micronesians Access to Opportunity

(Colonia, Yap) A dozen Micronesian students are headed to prestigious private schools this fall, thanks to Habele K-12 tuition scholarships. These students will attend the independent school of their family’s choosing.

Described as “an investment in human capital,” these grants are funded by donations from former Peace Corps Volunteers, tourists, and other Americans with a personal connection to Micronesia.

Micronesian canoe reassembly highlights interwoven FSM-US ties

Reprinted with permission from the Kaselehlie Press

Micronesian citizens living in Florida, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, gathered in South Carolina in mid-May to reassemble a traditional paddling canoe. The boat was crafted in Yap and serves as a symbol of the interwoven history of the American and Micronesian Peoples.

Micronesia's Robotic Olympians Training, Fundraising

Reprinted with permission from Kaselehlie Press, Volume 17, Issue 10

Micronesia's famously traditional Island of Stone Money is sending top students to a high tech global robotics competition this summer. The team, their teachers, and a network of supporters, are working hard to ensure they arrive on time, properly equipped, and prepared to compete.

Support the team at GoFundMe.com/YapRobo

The FIRST Global Challenge is a worldwide robotics competition scheduled for mid-July in Washington DC.  Small student teams design, build, and compete complex robots from simple parts. Featuring over 150 teams from across the planet, it also serves as a forum for students to meet and partner with diverse international peers.

Chinese Research Vessel Detained In Yap

Reprinted from the Yap State Government News Brief,  8/22/2016

COLONIA, Yap (Media Division) — A Chinese research vessel was confiscated by authorities on the evening of August 13, 2016 for allegedly conducting illegal activities within the 12-mile zone of Yap State territorial water.

At 9:44 AM, the research/survey vessel Xiang Yang Hong 19 was sighted by the community in Maap Municipality to be drifting within approximately two to three miles outside the reef. Curious members of the community called the Division of Public Safety and inquired as to what the ship was doing in their water. After several failed attempts to make contact with the ship, the Division of Public Safety mobilized a team of Yap State Police and YFA personnel at 11:57 AM and departed from the YFA dock to investigate the vessel.

Ambitious Micronesians awarded private tuition scholarships

A dozen students from across Micronesia will enroll in prestigious private schools this fall with the help of Habele tuition scholarships. Attendance at these schools radically increases the children’s’ chances of completing school and moving on to higher education.

The investment isn’t coming from a top-down government aid program or an influence peddling foreign conglomerate, it arrives care of Habele, a tiny all-volunteer charity funded entirely by individual Americans with a personal commitment to Micronesia.

LEAD Scholar completes US-FSM cultural exchange

Habele’s “LEAD,” or Leadership, Exchange, and Academic Development, is an intensive summer program for Habele scholars with strong potential for future leadership.

Based on the traditional host family model, this program fosters cultural, social and intellectual exchanges between Micronesian students and their American peers. The multilateral approach to developing mutual understanding and cooperation imbues participating scholars with increased perspective and capacity to drive sustainable regional development in Micronesia.

Habele LEAD Scholar tours Washington DC

A young Micronesian student from a tiny island outside of Yap visited America’s Capital, meeting with FSM officials and taking in the historic sights.

Habele’s “LEAD,” or Leadership, Exchange, and Academic Development, is an intensive summer program for top students who’ve earned Habele tuition scholarships to attend private high schools within Micronesia. It is a host family based program enriching person-to-person, and family-to-family relations between Americans and Micronesians.

Habele LEAD Scholar Meets US Congressmen

A young Micronesian student from a tiny island outside of Yap met with two members of the United States Congress last week.

Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina and Congresswoman Aumua Amata of American Samoa spoke with the student about the importance of the decades long US-Micronesian partnership, as well as her own educational ambitions.

Habele’s “LEAD,” or Leadership, Exchange, and Academic Development, is an intensive summer program for top students who’ve earned Habele tuition scholarships to attend private high schools within Micronesia.

The LEAD scholar compliments their academic year with time in the US taking summer classes, enhancing their English and cross-cultural skills, as well as networking with educational, civic and public leaders.

Habele is an all-volunteer South Carolina based nonprofit advancing educational access and accomplishment throughout Micronesian communities since 2006.

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YCHS Hosts 5th Annual Habele Robo-Day

COLONIA, Yap — On Tuesday, May 24th, Yap Catholic High School (YCHS) hosted the annual “Yap Robo-Day” thanks to donations from the Habele Foundation.

“Yap Robo-Day” was held at the Community Center from 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM. Despite the torrential downpour, the twenty-five students in the club still carried on with their robotics demonstrations for more than 100 visitors to the event. The students made repairs and improvements to their robots and even taught some visitors how to drive and operate the different robots. The event was made possible in part by the generosity of Matson, who has invested in this cutting-edge technology program.

The Robotics Club had started working on their robots in January of this year under the guidance of their faculty moderators, Mr. Michael Wiencek and Ms. Devi Gopal. This year, two senior students, Armhel Pigao and Kobe Sacres, served in the leadership roles of project contractors for the club.

Kind words from Satowan in the Mortlocks

Kind words from Satowan in the Mortlocks of Chuuk State, Micronesia.

Thank you so much for the box of goodies! It was such a lovely surprise to receive them a few weeks ago. My students were so excited for the books that I had a hard time getting them to focus on the lesson. All they wanted to do was read the new books. We appreciate everything that you sent. 

Photo and message sent from Peace Corps Volunteer Sarah Feigelson.

She and the public school educators at Satowan Elementary contacted Habele in March of 2016, seeking age-appropriate texts for classroom and library use.

Habele is an all-volunteer nonprofit expanding educational access and accomplishment in the Caroline Islands (Micronesia). It supplies targeted, on-demand donations to educators and extracurricular programs, as well as needs-based scholarships to individual students.

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