Posted on 07/20/2017 6:49:40 AM PDT by COBOL2Java
WASHINGTON — D.C. police say that a robotics team from Burundi competing in the FIRST Global Challenge in D.C. is missing.
According to authorities, the six members of the team were last seen near Constitution Hall around 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 18.
The organizers for the competition said the adult mentor of the team was unable to find the group of six students. The organization’s president contacted police and filed the proper reports.
“Security of the students is of paramount importance to FIRST Global,” the organization said in a statement. “FIRST Global ensures that all students get to their dormitories after the daily competition by providing safe transportation to the students staying at Trinity Washington University who are always to be under close supervision of their adult mentor and are advised not to leave the premises unaccompanied by the mentor.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wtop.com ...
How many of them are Muslim?
“No. I used to be a FIRST Robotics mentor....”
My older son co-founded Team 975 in Midlothian, VA. I was a mentor for 5 years and my younger son was on the team as well. You are right about the hundreds of hours.
The other co-founder of the team got one of the FIRST scholarships to VCU engineering school and she graduated Summa Cum Laude. The “recruiter lady” at VCU engineering was also the coordinator of the FIRST regional competition, and knew us. She just sorta happened to find my son a 4-year ALCOA scholarship to engineering school.
It would be interesting to know the back story on these kids, especially the two who headed north.
Ours was team 3498 from Aberdeen, MD.
Capitol Technology University is a big sponsor our way and that’s where he ended up in aerospace engineering.
Our first two years we qualified for World’s which made the season even longer. I missed my 25th and 26th wedding anniversaries for robot. All worth it because of the skills learned and scholarships.
Good deal. My younger son and I are always reminiscing about the FIRST experience. He’s now a good CNC machinist and also a competent welder. He learned a lot about problem solving and how to get along with people in a high-pressure environment.
I don’t know, but I think it’s likely that they’re seeking asylum. These are smart, upper-class kids from a largely Christian nation. Makes sense that they’d try for Canada, because they may very well speak French; and they may perceive Canadian immigration regulations as less strict than ours.
I don’t know how the visa issues will translate - they may be sent back to the US (?)
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3570671/posts
2 members of missing Burundi robotics team spotted crossing into Canada
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