GoodHeart | Alums help Kayla Kerr attend robotics championship in Texas

As she begins her final year at Campion College, upper-sixth former Kayla Kerr is focused on what lies ahead.

“Career-wise, I would want to go into bioengineering, but I also have a great deal of interest in astrophysics, so I would get an education in that too,” shared the contemplative 17-year-old, quick to add a caveat: “Should I want to shift professional paths, I can switch to that.”

Delighted to return to the classroom and reacquainted with friends, Kerr, a member of the school’s robotics club since first form in 2019, has already drafted a working list of overseas colleges to apply to, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Emory, Rice and top European universities, such as Munich University.

Back in April, Kerr journeyed to Texas in the United States of America as part of Campion’s seven-student delegation representing Jamaica at the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Challenge Robotics Competition.

She almost missed out, however, as financial constraints at the time made the trip seem out of reach. That was until Campion alumnae, Attorney-at-Law Rochelle Cameron and public relations guru Odette Dixon-Neath stepped in to assist with airfare and lodging.

“I was incredibly grateful. I didn’t expect it at all. It showed their commitment as Campionites to support my generation,” Kerr remarked of the gesture.

The Texas trip was the teenager’s first visit to North America, but even more significantly, it placed her and her club peers squarely among like-minded STEM enthusiasts from all corners of the globe.

Ahead of the overseas contest, the Campion Crimson Crocs team had secured the Inspire Award at the FIRST Tech Challenge Jamaica Robotics Championship in March, chosen from 28 teams as the one that best embodied the spirit of the programme.

Kerr recalled that the club began preparations months before. “We started in September last year, right up to March. The club had meetings twice a week and sometimes on weekends,” she shared. “The main things were engineering, documentation, and designing the robots.”

Her own responsibilities included outreach and documentation. “I planned activities for the club, we had online panel discussions with people from [the] Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Microsoft, as well as oceanographers from Jamaica, as the theme for this year’s FIRST Tech Challenge was centred around a water-based game.”

Advancing to the global competition, with robotics teams from Hillel Academy and the American International School also representing Jamaica, the local delegation counted themselves among over 600 teams from around the world.

Cultural exchange

A memorable cultural exchange came from meeting teams from Thailand. “They were very friendly and we exchanged gifts at the end of the competition. One of the teams was from Mexico; [we] were practising CSEC Spanish, so we were talking in Spanish,” she recalled.

Held in Houston at the George R. Brown Convention Centre from April 16 to 19, the 2025 global robotics competition, titled REEFSCAPE, called on alliances to score points through water-themed challenges, including harvesting algae. For the Campion team, a major test came in adapting their bot on the fly.

“We were focused in Texas on getting the bot to score more points and be more stable in the matches. We changed out the arm because it kept on malfunctioning, so we changed it into something else in the hopes that it would work better,” she recalled

“As a team, we worked on the bot late [into] the night, up to 2 a.m. We had to suddenly change the design, so we were working on a lot of fixes. Once we changed the design, we committed to it.”

For Campion alumna, Cameron, the primary benefactor in making Kerr’s Texas journey possible, the decision was easy. “I believe deeply in paying it forward. When I learned of Kayla’s opportunity to represent Campion in Texas, I saw not just a brilliant student, but a young woman poised to soar. Supporting her was a no-brainer.”

She added that meeting Kerr in person was equally rewarding. “Kayla lit up the room. Her excitement about robotics was absolutely infectious,” said Cameron. “Beyond her intellect, what struck me was her grace. She’s well-mannered, articulate and engaging.”

Cameron, who graduated from the renowned co-ed high school as head girl in 1992, is today the chief executive officer of her own six-year-old company, Prescient Consulting, which offers legal and regulatory services, corporate crisis communications and professional development workshops.

Meanwhile, Keisha Morrison, the robotics club faculty advisor and head of the technology department at Campion College, sang praises of Kerr, one of two girls on the largely male team.

“Kayla is a bright student with a keen interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses,” said Morrison. “She quietly participated in all aspects of the team’s progress and offered insight on ways to fix the robotics claw mechanism, as well as spearheaded several outreach programmes.”

The club facilitator, who has been involved in the FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics for three years, noted that the team, stood out among 66 countries and earned a Judges’ Choice award in Texas, recognising their outstanding effort and knowledge.

During her summer break, Kerr joined 500 students from 80 countries at the London International Youth Science Forum in Britain, where she engaged with cutting-edge research and visited top universities.

Now back at school, her head is buried in biology, chemistry, physics, and pure mathematics as she prepares for her final year. But her vision is already clear.

“I want to start my own bioengineering firm 20 years from now,” the optimistic high schooler shared. “I would want to start it here because I think Jamaica has a lot of brilliant people [who] just aren’t being tapped into. I want to focus on creating imaging devices and drug delivery methods. But, new ones as those presently available, rely on radiation, but there is a lot of [the] electromagnetic spectrum we could be using instead.”

For the laser-focused Kerr, who turns 18 in December, the road ahead holds infinite promise.

goodheart@gleanerjm.com