ANNA REGINA, GUYANA – Eleven-year-old Tyra Amberly Stephney is a star student who is turning heads with her top grades and her super skills in robotics. Tyra is showing the world that kids can have big dreams and achieve them too.
Tyra was born on August 22, 2011, and she’s the fourth of six kids in her family. Her parents, Verna and Tyrone Stephney, are super proud of her, and their support has helped Tyra do great in school. She recently nailed the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) with a high score of 475.9 (94%)! This huge win put her at the top of her school and earned her a special prize called the Regional Hinterland Scholarship and a spot in the prestigious Anna Regina Secondary School.
But Tyra isn’t just about books and exams. She loves to relax by reading, watching TV, and playing games. And even while she’s relaxing, she’s learning! Tyra dreams of being a doctor someday, helping people and saving lives. Tyra is also a tech whiz. She’s been part of a cool group, sponsored by IDBLab and managed by STEMGuyana, called the learning pod, since 2020. The pod introduced Tyra and her pod mates to coding, robots, exciting competitions, and new experiences. Tyra developed such excellent skills that she even joined the International Youth Robot Competition (IYRC) in 2022 and a National Scratch coding contest in 2023.
Tyra thanks her coach and everyone at STEMGuyana who help run the learning pod. She says that being part of the pod has shown her all the amazing things that technology can do. She’s so thankful that she wants to help her friends join the program too.
And guess what? Tyra isn’t stopping. She’s planning to join the IYRC competition again this year. It’s clear that Tyra is a shining example of a student who blends book smarts with tech skills. As Tyra keeps learning and growing, she’s bound to do great things, showing us all the cool stuff that happens when we mix traditional learning with new tech. Go, Tyra!
