It has been more than two years since Claret Robotics Team joined any face-to-face robotics competition. It was not just the team but even the competition organizers themselves stopped holding competitions in public places due to the pandemic. When the 21st Philippine Robotics Olympiad organizers, headed by Ms. Mylene Abiva, the CEO of Felta Inc., announced that they will resume face-to-face competitions, the boys got excited. It was a big challenge for the team since Claret School had just started its school year in August and the competition was scheduled for September 19 to 23, 2022. The team did not lose hope and asked for permission to train in school from our principal, Mrs. Razerly Ibañez. She immediately gave her nod, and we went to start with our practices every Tuesday and Thursday which were barely enough, so we stretched it to four times a week. With two weeks to go, the teams were still struggling in building their robots; the parts got disarranged when they were transferred to a separate room as ongoing repairs were underway for the opening of classes.


With determination and prayers, we were able to finish the robots and participated in the Olympiad. Amazingly, 4 out of our 5 teams made it big and qualified for the finals.


Two teams from the elementary, composed of Railey Royce T. Ballentos, John Peter D. Manalo, Vince Reiner B. Cambri, and Liam Julio Todoc, all grade 6 students made it to the top 8 among 50 participants. Much credit can be given to their parents who took days off from their work to give all their support to their children. We even spent time practicing even on Saturdays and Sundays as time was running out.


Not to be outdone, our high school senior team came out strong; they reached the finals and ended up among the top 15 among the 30 teams who went into the finals. It was an amazing finish considering that the team formed to compete in the robotics sports event but shifted to the senior high regular category for this competition. The team is composed of Lorenzo Antonio C. Dometita, Neil Kaizer M. Bango, and Juan Gabriel A. Flores.


The newest team members were our two junior high teams. Although they did not reach the finals, they earned the respect of other teams from other schools when they learned that despite 3 weeks of preparation, they were able to join and participate in this prestigious event. The junior high team members are Xian Karl V. Rimando, Ethan Jadrei B. Penos, Alejandre Kendrick C. Arellano, Dominic Aaron III V. Elayda, Nathan L. Baylon, and Lance Jayden A. Virtusio.

 

The Claret Robotics Team made a courtesy call to our supportive school principal, Mrs. Razerly Ibañez together with their coach, Mr. Roxan Ruchillo S. Cosico before the competition.


The teams receiving their medals:

Senior High School Team

 

Elementary Team A

 

Elementary Team B
 
 
Junior High School Team A
 
 
Junior High School Team B
 
Ms. Maris Rante, our diligent TLE Coordinator sees to it that things are going smoothly for our competition.
 
Our incredibly supportive parents from the grade school helped us in so many ways.