-I see a boy sitting down in a school environment busy on his laptop. His school bag and a bottle of soda is on the table.
-I feel the boy is doing some important work on his laptop.
Leon sat in his English class excitedly. He couldn't wait for the class to be over so he could race to the robotics lab. He had come across delightful news online that he couldn't wait to share with the rest of the team. Leon glanced at his watch repeatedly, tapping his pen on his thigh and sighing as the minutes seemed to crawl.
“Leon, is there anything you'll like to share with the class?” Miss Anita, the English teacher asked, peering at him through her glasses.
“Huh? No ma'am… I don't…nothing” he replied shyly.
“Do you perhaps have a date or an appointment to get to and my class is probably delaying you?” Miss Anita asked again.
“No ma'am it's just…” Leon started to explain but the bell rung signalling the end of the class. Leon grabbed his bag, happy that he no longer had to explain his demeanor to Miss Anita.
“Okay children, don't forget to read pages 7 to 10 and work on your essay, the deadline is in two days. Leon, go for your date!” Miss Anita instructed.
An embarrassed Leon ran to the robotics lab and slammed the door shut. He sat on a stool and waited for the other five members to arrive. Soon enough, the door opened and they all trooped in. Greetings were exchanged and Leon went straight to the point.
“Okay, guys, I came across a robotics competition online. It is huge and full of mouthwatering prices”.
“Nice! What are the requirements?” Alex, one of the members, asked.
“Just to sign up with approval from the school and then work on a project we'll showcase on the day of the competition” Leon replied, showing them the details on his laptop.
“Signing up is not the issue. You know we don't get much support from the school, like the soccer team or the music and art department” Camille, the only girl in the group said dryly.
“Cami is right, Leon, what if we don't get the items we need for the project?” Luke, another boy, spoke up.
Leon asked them not to lose hope, they were all talented and had a few secret inventions in Leon's father's garage. Plus, they could speak to their science teacher and convince him to plead with the principal on their behalf. They immediately approached their science teacher with the information, and he happily agreed to help them.
“Okay guys, I have good news and bad news” Mr. Ravi said the next day as he walked into the lab where Leon and his friends had been anxiously waiting for him.
“Good news first please” Camille replied excitedly.
“Alright gents and lady, the principal has agreed to sign his approval but you guys will have to work on the project by yourselves. Financially, the school might not be able to help and that's the bad news” Mr. Ravi said.
“Why?” Camille wailed theatrically, making the boys laugh.
“Thank you sir, I'm sure we'll figure out something. I don't think anyone of us would want to lose a one-year internship with the biggest robotics firm. At least about five hundred thousand each in price money and other benefits to our school, including a state of the art new lab” Leon said.
“You know you all have my full support, I'll help out in any way I can. I believe in this team and now is our chance to make the school believe in us too” Mr. Ravi replied.
The team organized a fundraising event and raised enough money to start their project. They decided to build a robot to help children with learning disabilities, between the six whiz kids, the work was shared with supervision from Mr. Ravi. Leon and Camille got the programming and coding aspect while the other boys worked on building the robot.
Every day after school, Leon would sit in the school garden, working tirelessly on his programming. The job didn't require distractions, so he and Camille would sometimes sit separately to focus, then meet at the end of the day to combine their work.
After five weeks of hard work, they were ready to test run their robot, and it performed better than they expected. A few more finishing touches were added to the design, and they were able to celebrate completing their task.
On the day of the competition, they were all nervous and intimidated by the array of machines before them. They almost lost hope but Mr. Ravi cheered them on and when it got to their turn they performed brilliantly.
At the end of the day, their robot was the winner. Leon and the others couldn't believe it, they climbed to the stage dumbfounded and happy to receive their prizes. Plenty of good things happened after their victory. The principal was elated upon hearing the news and started to take the robotics team seriously and many new people decided to join the team.
Leon was really proud of what they had all achieved and wore a big smile on his face each time he passed the building under construction for the new robotics lab.