Article written by Celine Morris

Hon. P. Mike Jurry, Co-Chair, Standing Committee on Education and Representative of
District number 2 Maryland County.
Members of the press if anyone here present
Distinguished colleagues of Team Liberia
In conformity with Article seventeen (17) of our constitution, which protects all
person at all times, in an orderly manner, shall have the right to assemble and consult
upon the common good, to instruct their representatives, to petition the government
and so on..
Whereas, we the youths of Liberia operating under the umbrella of FIRST (For
Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Global Team Liberia are
convinced that the downgrading condition of Liberia does not surely rest on the
performance of Government. If we look around us today and follow national and
international media institutions, we will notice that Liberia has the following
resources: Iron ore, timber, Diamond, silica sand, heavy mineral sand, nickel, lead,
zinc, copper, gold, rubber, vast forest for logging, vast agriculture land for ensuring
food security etc.
Mr. Co-Chairman on the Education Committee, We represent millions of Liberian
youths who still strive to properly find better career path due to lack of choices, and
that is why we have taken the role of being called Team Liberia on the international
stage. Team Liberia is one of the Partners of FIRST Global, comprised of high school
students who have a passion for Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics
(STEM) from across the 15 subdivisions of the country. The mission of FIRST Global is
to inspire science and technology leadership and innovation in young people from all
nations in order to increase understanding, impress the importance of cooperation,
address the world’s most pressing issues, and improve quality of life for all.
We believe that by showing the youth of the world that if they learn how to communicate,
cooperate, and work together using the tools of science and engineering to find
solutions to the world’s grand challenges – water, energy, security, medicine, food, and
education – they will learn how to work with each other, trust each other, and become
part of a truly global community. By bringing these future STEM leaders together in
an engaging and collaborative competition, that drives home the importance,
excitement, and applicability of STEM education, FIRST Global inspires students to
learn the skills they will need to make the discoveries their parents and grandparents
would consider miracles, impossibilities, or just plain science fiction.

Mr. Co-Chair, In 2019, Members of FIRST (For Inspiration & Recognition of Science &
Technology) Global Team Liberia founded STEM Club Team Liberia, after several
years of representing Liberia at international competitions learning cultural
diversities, the importance of collaboration, finding possible solutions to the world’s
greatest challenges, and most of all improving research among 189 countries in the
world. STEM Club Team Liberia envisioned building a unique and unparalleled
platform for both the privileged and underprivileged students and youths of Liberia
to come together in one place, in order to share knowledge, discover, invent, design,
and build a new Liberia through the innovations of Science, Technology Engineering,
and Mathematics.
Mr. Co-Chair and member of the House of Representative, Republic of Liberia, we read
about the history of Liberia and learnt that the love of Liberty brought us here. We
now have the liberty and here we are since the early 1820s, followed by one hundred
seventy three years of independence with multitude of resources discovered and
undiscovered. We have only one university in our entire country that grant Bachelor
of Science degree in Electronics, Mining, Geology, Building Construction, Architecture,
Mathematics, Botany, Zoology, Medicine, Pharmacy and Physics.
Mr. Co-Chair, research and innovation are the new roadmap to the world
development, and we considered Liberia to be a member country, where we are yet to
see leading STEM disciplines like: Environmental Chemical systems, Macromolecular,
supra-molecular, and Nano-chemistry; Robotics and Computer vision, Human
Computer Interaction, informatics, Data mining and information retrieval; aerospace
engineering, bioengineering, biomedical engineering, Nuclear engineering, industrial
engineering, ocean engineering, Optical engineering; biological and chemical
oceanography, marine geology, solar physics, biogeochemistry, developmental and
evolutionary biology, biostatistics, physic of living systems, cyber security technology,
and Agriculture Engineering.
Mr. Co-Chair, few months ago, the Government of Liberia signed a bilateral agreement
with the European Union to train professionals in Kenya, Zambia, and Uganda with the
aims of filling TVET instructional vault, when Liberia is expected at this time to be the
cradle of education on the continent. It is now time that the Government of Liberia
create a Ministry called “Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation & Research”.
When created, this agency will focus on the technological competence of Liberia like
Uganda that took this same step few years back, which is providing leadership, an
enabling environment and resources for scientific research and knowledge based
development for industrialization, competitiveness and employment creation leading
to a sustainable livelihoods and economy.
Mr. Co-chair of the Education Committee, the ministry of science & technology will not
only enhance the pace of Liberia socio-economic development, but will draft several science and engineering policies that would save billions of dollars for the country,
creates national science and technology infrastructure programs, manages the
expansion of national innovation systems, provide students of Liberia with
mentorship and scholarship support to pursue study in basic sciences, and lastly
develop programs with the goals of recognizing students with talents and skills for
research, push them to realize their studies potential, inspire them to take up research
careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, and ensure the growth
of the best scientific minds for research and development of the country.
Mr. Co-Chair, if these recommendations are being achieved, the Liberia Electricity
Corporation for example will never run out of Electric wire, when our engineers are
fit enough to turn copper, which happens to be one of natural resources into a
conducting path. The People of the Republic of China is currently inventing a modern
5G city while less than 15% of our national population have access to computer
knowledge or education. Great Britain few years ago celebrated 100 years of stable
electricity and innovative alternative energy are the research of the day, while
residents in Liberia are demonstrating every day for damage transformer that we
ourselves can manufacture in Liberia, if we have quality mechanical, electrical and
industrial engineers. With STEM education in full swing and well supported by the
government and every Liberians, our resources will be converted into fixed material
for man use and exported instead of the traditional exportation of raw materials.
Honorable P. Mike Jurry, Co-Chair on the House Standing Committee on Education,
Members of the Press, distinguished colleague and everyone here present, we
therefore petition the government of Liberia on this 28 day of August AD 2020
through your office to embrace STEM education, and to support it by investing in the
young adults of Liberia that will soon begin to make their marks in Liberia and the world.

Signed:
Micelia Angeline Clarke
Captain/Mentor, Team Liberia

Approved:
Redeemer J. Wonsiah
Technical Mentor, Team Liberia