The TASIS Tigers head to Houston for the Lego Challenge finals

 While the Tigers are the only women's team representing Switzerland, they are not the only team to be representing the Confederation: also participating in the World Finals will be the Smilebots veterans, previously in Detroit three years ago, when they qualified 12th out of over 40,000 teams competing in the entire global competition.

The American School in Switzerland (TASIS) girls' team is gearing up under the leadership of coach Amy Bloodworth, who has been awarded the Khan-Page Master Teacher Award for her progressive and inclusive teaching methods. «I am so proud of these girls,» says the coach. «This participation marks months of hard work and dedication for the students who not only have to perform well under pressure in robot play, but are also judged on programming and engineering design.» The springboard The theme of this year's Bellinzona tournament was transportation. The girls participated in the Challenge (ages 9-16), a category that was asked to investigate technological advances and global challenges facing humanity and then construct creative solutions to revolutionize the Tigers during the Feb. 5 competition. 

Reading Time: 4'18'' nare the future. Mariaurora Rosso, Madalena Costa Felix, Serafina Ballerini, Olivia Canga and Diana Xiao placed third out of 10 teams in the overall standings

It was very important that all the team members were able to perform every task, because there was a high risk of infection before the competition,« says Mariaurora. At least twice a week in the after-school sessions, the girls join the coach to study new techniques and improve their skills. «We also meet often among ourselves, because to solve problems during the competitions we have to decide to do nothing and they thought we were not capable - say the students - We decided to create an all-female team to show that we are capable of doing it. We decided to create an all-female team to show that we could do it on our own.» The American OpportunityThe First Championship is a four-day American robotics championship held annually in April.

«For us, being a female team representing Switzerland in Houston is not only a great opportunity, but also an honor: I have Turkish origins...but I have been raised in Ticino, Switzerland is my home,« says Olivia. A bit like the cliché American dream, the Tigers are currently working hard to be able to face the next challenge in the best possible way. »We hope to inspire a lot of girls to take this path - tells Madalena -. Our coach spurs us on every day to give our best». Not always performing a task impeccably means maximum score, to be judged is also the team game. «We are very strong in this because each one of us has a say: we put all our resources into the field to get to the solution of the problem», says Diana. The big event is always less and less.

As a full service provider, we support Sintetica SA in the digital transformation by providing advanced networking and communication solutions and respond flexibly to their individual needs. Stefano Gatti, Corporate infrastructure Lead, Sintetica SA «Complete solutions without risks and side effects.» We are motivated by what drives Sintetica SA. By Giorgia Cimma Sommaruga PHOTOS BY Graham Pearsall and Amy Bloodworth.