PROJECT PROMISE STUDENTS REPRESENTED U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS AT 2026 FIRST GLOBAL CHALLENGE IN SOUTH KOREA
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ST. CROIX, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS, (October 12, 2026)— On October 4, 2026, four local high school students traveled to Incheon, South Korea, to represent the U.S. Virgin Islands in the FIRST Global Challenge, an international robotics competition hosted by the nonprofit FIRST Global. The six-person delegation included Project Promise Founder and Executive Director Resa O’Reilly Shearn, who manages the team; official team members Ethan Valery, Grayson Stanton, Nyan Bedminster, and Ziva Caleb; and team coach Francisco Reyes.
This marked Project Promise’s fourth year participating in the global event. In 2023, FIRST Global invited Project Promise to take part in its Robotics Challenge in Singapore and provided a full sponsorship for the team. Last year, local students represented the territory at the competition in Panama City, Panama. Team Captain and fourth-year participant Ziva Caleb said the group was eager to compete on the world stage again. “Through our participation with FIRST Global, we had the opportunity to learn new skills and techniques, as well as collaborate with different countries across the world. This has provided us with a new outlook on challenges we face back home.”, Calab stated.
Since April, the student team and coach met regularly to strategize, build, and prepare for the competition. Last week, students from around the world gathered in Incheon to collaborate and compete in the 2026 FIRST Global Challenge. “We were excited to once again be invited to represent the U.S. Virgin Islands at the FIRST Global Robotics Challenge,” said Shearn. “We are incredibly grateful to FIRST Global for this opportunity and to all of our sponsors for their continued support.”
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ABOUT THE FIRST GLOBAL
The FIRST Global Challenge is an annual Olympics-style international robotics event to which one team of high school students from every nation is invited to participate. Held in a different nation each year, the Challenge seeks to highlight the greatest challenges facing our planet while encouraging the next generation to build the STEM skills required to solve them. Teams receive the same kit of parts, which they use to build a robot designed to complete a series of tasks. The event itself is then designed to foster collaboration between teams.
ABOUT PROJECT PROMISE
Project Promise is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of at-risk youth on St. Croix by providing empowerment initiatives, cultural programs, and family services. To learn more about Project Promise, please visit their website at www.projectpromisevi.com.
