‘Sultans of Türkiye’ won a prestigious robotics award in Houston

On April 20, 2019, the robotics team of the Darrüşşafaka High school traveled to the United States to attend the FIRST Robotics Competition in Houston, Texas, and won an international engineering award.
The team, called the “Sultans of Türkiye”, was founded in the esteemed Darüşşafaka High School in İstanbul; an institution that provides boarding education to academically brilliant students who are either orphans or the children of single parents. They received the Engineering Inspiration Award, presented for their promotion of engineering and its merits in their school and community - alongside their contributions to its advancement.
Among the World’s largest competitions for science, the FIRST championship was attended by more than 15,000 STEM students aged 6-18 who came from 40 different countries.
Every year, the competition features a different gameplay theme that is intended to simulate a real life engineering challenge. This year was designated as “deep space” with the challenge of designing a pre-programmed robot capable of collecting samples from another planet under 2.5 minutes before escaping an oncoming sandstorm.
By winning the Engineering Inspiration Award with their robot “Tintin”, named after the famous comic strip hero of the Belgian cartoonist Herge, the Sultans made it to the finals scheduled to take place in Houston in 2020. NASA will be paying for their entrance fee of $5,000.
In an interview given to the daily Hürriyet newspaper, the captain of the team Belsu Seyran expressed their pride in their achievements, as they were the first team from Turkey to go to the finals;
“We have received many awards up to now. We have tried to represent our country, school and team in the best way. We are very proud to have received one of the most prestigious awards at the world championship among hundreds of teams. There is a 10-year-long history behind this award. It means a lot to us” The club teacher and mentor, Mete Karaca attributed their success largely to the STEM based education system at their High School. “About 20 awards that ‘Sultans of Türkiye has so far won is the biggest indicator of this” Karaca said.
Tayfun Öktem, chairperson of the Darüşşafaka Society, said the team’s victory is the “most concrete indicator” of the equalitarian, reason-based and scientific education offered at Darüşşafaka High School. “As the whole Darüşşafaka family, we are proud of them.”

Source: Hürriyet Daily News