Shooting for the Stars

A week of activities and familiarisation set them off on a pathway toward unlocking significant talent and passion. It was surprising how quickly they were able to build the skills required to be successful, navigating the challenges of coding and the technicality of the 2022-23 VEXIQ game.

A qualification event for the National Robotics Championships was held in July leading up to the Garma Festival, where US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy attended for a demonstration. The children scored enough points to secure an invitation to the National Robotics Championships in Sydney in December.

No one expected them to be a threat at these championships. They had only been doing Robotics for about eight months. They didn’t have access to regular coaching and they were still very much in the novice category. Just making Sydney and the chance to visit Barker was a community celebration.

To the surprise of all, the Firebirds were not only competitive, they showed remarkable adaptability in Sydney, combining well in their match alliances to work their way up the leaderboard and place 4th overall, providing qualification to the World VEXIQ Elementary School Robotics Championships in Dallas,

Texas. Sean, our leading Yolŋu coder, demonstrated in the Skills component of the competition that for these kids, given the opportunity, anything is possible. Sean’s code ranked the Firebird's robot 1st in Australia. A trip overseas was an incredible achievement. However, the logistics of arranging this for a group of children from remote Australia was a mammoth challenge. No birth certificates, no passports, challenging family situations, and funding a trip all stood as barriers to the children representing their community, their school and their country. Fortunately, incredibly generous sponsors and remarkable work by our Indigenous Campuses Operations Manager (Annelise Pearce) and our Global Project ManagerEast Arnhem (Marina Wangunarr), managed the logistics to make the trip to Dallas a reality.

Six children; Justin, Cyrus, Whitney, Sean, Andrew and Micayla, along with their teacher Mr Tom (Spencer) and co-teacher Valerie, travelled to Sydney where they joined Martin Lubrano and Annelise Pearce for the trip to Dallas at the beginning of May. In Dallas, we were joined by Mr Phillip Heath, other Yolŋu community leaders, Yothu Yindi Foundation CEO, and the Robotics coaches, forming a strong and supportive tour group.

760 teams qualified for this tournament representing over 27,000 teams who started the 2022-23 VEXIQ Robotics game journey. An opening ceremony in the Dallas Dome, only slightly smaller than Qudos Bank Arena (Homebush), saw a parade of the 33 Nations represented at the Championships, and our own Justin carried the Australian Flag with representatives of the other eight Australian teams. A proud moment for our tour group and Gunyangara. For the Competition, 760 teams were split into ten division groups. The Djirikitj Firebirds were in the Science Division and had ten qualification matches partnering with teams from across the world. Anyone would have forgiven them for being overawed and intimidated. Not the Firebirds! They adapted incredibly well to the enormity of the event, the crowds, being away from home without parents and the cultural juxtaposition from home. Across the two days of matches they were awesome. They adapted to challenges, made necessary corrections and represented with distinction. In their first World Championships, and for some their second time ever out of community, they placed 40th in their division, and but for a more favourable draw pairing with more expert teams, they would have finished higher. Yet their enthusiasm never waned. Ask them and they will tell you they won every match. For them, being there, seeing their robot work, experiencing an auditorium on the scale of the Dallas Convention Centre and making connection with children from all over the world was success. They were champions!

The days around the tournament saw visits to Forth Worth Stock yards, a shopping outlet mall, Six Flags Amusement Park, Wolf Lodge Indoor Water Park and a Medieval Dinner Show. These are experiences they will never forget. They have had their eyes opened to the world. They have experienced things they may have never dreamed possible. They flew for over 22 hours to the other side of the world. And they took this in their stride. They were resilient beyond expectation, showing maturity and adaptability beyond their years.

As a community, we can be extremely proud of the children from Gunyangara who carry our name alongside theirs, Dhupuma Barker. They have set the bar high. They are the first primary school team from our school to represent in Robotics internationally and hopefully they inspire all other Robotics players to reach for the stars.

Look out for the Djirikitj Firebirds in the new 2023-24 VEX IQ game. They are bound to be shooting for the stars again.

Martin Lubrano Head of Junior School