Meet the Palestinian teenagers in their quest for robotics gold
Both also serve as reminders to current team members of what is possible if they continue to pursue STEM fields. Ismail is in his third year of computer engineering at Queen’s, while Shanti is a first-year student studying business intelligence (a combination of business and technology applications) at National University of An-Najah in the West Bank.
Dalia Nasr, student of Palestine 2025 team: Alumni, I can learn from them. There are not many robotics courses in Palestine. It is not really normal for us to have such things. So this is a really, really big opportunity for me.
Ismail: At some point I was looking for my upstreams, people who participated in previous years. As I inspire people, others inspire me.
Saleh: When the first student graduates from high school, we have no words to express our feelings and they start thinking, “We want to be like Khalil and study computer science or we really want to study robotics.”
It was really fun to see them turn this passion into a career. The most valuable thing for us is that when they come back during the summer holidays, they volunteer to join our team to share their knowledge.
The 2025 repeat of the Palestine team, five strong (plus coaches), is just days away from leaving for Panama City. Their robot, which Nasr says is basically finished, collects “biodiversity units” from a tank in the playground and fires them into a makeshift ecosystem, simulating real efforts at ecological balance, which is this year’s theme.
As the team’s “human player,” Nasr, 16, will be responsible for helping the robot shoot biodiversity units. He jokes that he will rely on his limited basketball experience for a leg up.
Nasr: To be able to participate in a competition where I can inspire other Palestinian youth or other Palestinian students who are interested in pursuing careers in STEM is something that is truly one of the most transformative experiences of my life. I know it’s a lot of pressure on me as an individual, but it’s a great honor.
