Technology and Business Fund 2018-2019

Our 2018-2019 school year is in full swing.  We were honored to welcome Desi Rosado as a guest speaker and mentor in the senior business classes this month.  He shared his own journey from Caye Caulker to a career working internationally in technology businesses, and inspired the students to pursue their goals.

Students selected their weekly elective classes, and the hardware repair and software support courses are very popular.  Students are learning practical skill sets that can help community members with their technology issues, while also generating income as a student-run small business.

Over the summer, our I.T. teacher Mr. Tzub led Team Belize to the FIRST Global Robotics Olympics August 16-18. The kit arrived in June, and students had to build and code a robot capable of lifting small boxes and glass panels and twisting a handle on the game field with the theme of "Energy Impact". 182 countries signed up, and 161 teams competed in the three-day Olympics. Ocean Academy's Daniela was the flag bearer for Team Belize. An added twist is that countries were randomly matched together into Village Alliances and had to strategize and work together in the competition. Each game lasted 2:30 minutes and the team robots had to lift and carry and twist game pieces that represented solar panels, energy cubes, wind turbines. Belize placed 106/161 and also earned a "Safety Award". A full sponsorship allowed Daniela and her teacher to participate in this amazing international technology opportunity.

An ad went out recently about a youth competition in Belize is to create technology solutions for transportation schedules, citizen involvement and birth registrations.  Do you have skills developing mobile apps or web-based applications?  Do you have time to mentor our students?