This year, a High School Student from Diamond Bar, California had the interest of spreading STEM to third world countries. During the summer, Kenneth Wah had travelled to Ghana with the goal of creating a robotics program and strenthening the science program at the local schools. With connections, he had established a good relationship with the local school, Avete- Anloga LA Basic School. Prior to the recent visit to Ghana, he had visited Ghana before and had discovered that the children at the schools had the potential and motivation to learn.
This past summer, he focused on math and science and brought PVC pipes to launch paper rockets with the students, and created a baking soda and vinegar volcano, both activities which had not been experienced before by the majority of the school children.
“A lot of the people there don’t go to school, even those with public schools in their villages because they don’t have enough money for education,”
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As another part of his agenda at Avete-Anloga, Wah started a robotics program for the students, bringing LEGO Mindstorms, kits containing the hardware and software necessary to create and program a small robot, to help kick start the process. The students Wah was with were “excited because they were seeing something new for the first time.”
He was motivated to visit schools in Ghana by his desire to help the less fortunate. After searching online for aid opportunities in unique places such as Tanzania and Nepal, Wah decided to help middle school students in Ghana gain more knowledge, especially in STEM fields.
During his adventure of starting the robotics program, he had taught local Junior High School students along with teachers on how to create a sustantial robotics program for the school. Since he had left three LEGO Mindstorm EV3 robots to Ghana, he had recieved funding from fundraisers, Walnut Valley Robotics and his local high school. In the future, Kenneth aims to integrate FIRST LEGO League to the local junior high school and aims to lead and integrate schools and advocate for STEM at the local surrounding communities.
Credit: ireport.cnn.com
