The Sacred Heart Secondary School group is the first all-female team to win the prestigious Judges Award at the World Championships. Students Emily Thunder and Jasmine Matsushita – aged between 12 and 14 years old – along with Alice Duffy, Olivia Hoey, Rachel Ebenezer and Alice Duffy represented Ireland at the world stage. The STEM coordinator for the team, Sindy Meleady, told The Anton Savage Show that the competition was intense. She said that there were over 300 teams, and some teams – such as the Chinese team – were like a military operation.

You had teams from America, Vietnam and all over the world. It was a great opportunity to meet people with different cultures.

Great opportunity for the girls, but oh god was it busy and stressful.”

The participants are assessed based on their ability to create a robot that can play a game set up by the organizers. Alice Duffy, a student, worked as a game analyst and builder on the team.

“Basically me and my friend Rachel work together to look over the game, saying, ‘This was not right, let us do this again so that we can get these few extra points’,” said she.

We strategize with the teams we play with in the matches.

According to Ms Meleady, there will be a formal homecoming for the girls in school on Monday.

From left to right, Alice Duffy (main image), Jasmine Matsushita (main image), Olivia Hoey (main picture), Emily Thunder and Rachel Ebeneezer. Image: Supplied.