Somersfield students take on Nature’s Fury in Toronto

This weekend a group of P6 - M3 students from Somersfield Academy will be in Canada participating in a science competition which showcases their talent and innovation.

The First Lego League Challenge takes place December 7th at Bishop Strachan School, Toronto, and features eight students from Somerfield’s Robotics programme. They will be competing against 20 teams from the Ontario region.

This year’s competition, entitled Nature’s Fury, challenged the students to find solutions to potential crises arising from natural events. The Somersfield team focused on hurricanes and Bermuda’s food security/food supply. Their creations included a robotic mechanism which aids in the transfer of food supplies should Bermuda’s ports be cut off due to a hurricane, as well as an emergency non-perishable food source in the event that Bermuda’s food stocks ran low.

Recently, the Minister of Public Safety, the Hon. Michael Dunkley had an opportunity to review the team’s competition entry and said he was “extremely impressed” with their innovation.

Minister Dunkley said, “Their creations are innovative and very forward thinking and I was extremely impressed with the attention to detail these students exhibited with this project. But what truly blew me away was their ability to articulate some very intricate scientific and logistical knowledge about what their creations were designed to do and how they would benefit the Island and our residents.”

Minister Dunkley continued, “As Chairman of the Emergency Measures Organisation, I shared with them our preparedness protocols and how the EMO considers every eventuality of Bermuda’s needs in advance of a hurricane. I explained to them that we sit down each year and take a look at what could happen and we try and assess any issue we might have on how a hurricane or other disaster could affect our sea ports or airport.

“I also pointed out that based on our evaluations, we believe that we have the right infrastructure in place to get our sea ports and airport up and running swiftly following any potential disaster. However, we can always look at ways to improve on our existing emergency protocols and I certainly appreciated the Somersfield Academy’s students’ contribution.”

 The youngsters leave tomorrow (Dec. 6) and will be accompanied by Mark Brown, the school’s Director of Innovations.