By Admin. Updated 6:39 p.m., Friday, April 18, 2025, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).
With just six months of teaching experience at Mountain View Adventist Academy, 19-year-old Noah Horne has played a key role in one of the school’s most historic victories.
“I never imagined that I would be mentoring a robotics team, let alone guiding them to victory,” Mr. Horne told One News SVG regarding the school’s recent achievement in winning the inaugural NCTI Robotics Competition.
“It feels like everything has come full circle,” said Mr. Horne, who is from Villa Point, Park Hill, but grew up in South Rivers.
At 19, Mr. Horne teaches Form 1 and Form 3 classes in Physics, Information Technology, and Agricultural Science. His journey in technology and other STEM fields began when he was a child.
“My own journey into tech started years ago. I was just a kid with a curiosity for how things worked. That curiosity grew into passion when I attended the STEM Summer Program and later, when I entered the 2018 Isquare now ICode App Development Competition, hosted by the NTRC. That year, my cousin Myles Jones and I built Agri Marketplace, a mobile app designed to connect farmers directly with buyers,” he said.
“It wasn’t just a cool tech idea, it was personal. We created the app because of our grandmother, who worked as an exporter of agricultural produce regionally. We saw the challenges she faced trying to get her goods to market, and we wanted to make that process easier for her, and provide a direct market for our farmers,” he added.
Mr. Horne said the app he and his cousin created “won us national recognition, but more importantly, it planted something deeper in me. It made me realize that tech could be a tool for solving real problems, and that I wanted to use what I was learning to help others.”
“Fast forward to now, and that desire led me to the MVAA robotics team, not as a competitor, but as a mentor. I saw so much of myself in these students: bright, driven, and full of potential, just waiting for someone to help bring it out. I wanted to be that someone,” he said.
He added, “My goal wasn’t just to teach them how to build or code, I wanted to help them learn how to think critically, solve problems creatively, and collaborate as a team. We spent countless hours working side by side, and with every obstacle they faced, I watched them grow more confident and capable. All that dedication paid off “we won”. Of course, this win wasn’t just about me. These students put in the work. They were committed. Their teachers, administrators, and parents gave them the space and support to succeed. I was blessed to be a part of it.”
He said: “This win is bigger than a trophy. It’s proof of what can happen when young people are inspired, supported, and given a chance to create something meaningful.”
The Mountain View Adventist Academy is a faith-based school located at Richland Park in the Marriaqua Valley. As a teacher there, Mr. Horne is also connected spiritually.
He said: A scripture that motivates me is from Isaiah 40:31, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Another one of my favorites is taken from 1 Peter 5:6, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.”
“My parents, family, and persons I keep close to me in general always support me and drive me to do so many great things that I sometimes think that they are pushing me to do impossible. My mother and father in particular motivate me in ways I can’t fully explain. They push me beyond what I thought were my limits, always seeing potential in me even when I don’t see it myself,” he said.
“I personally believe that great things will never come through if there is no work done,” he added.
Mountain View Adventist Academy clinched first place at the inaugural National Centre of Technological Innovation (NCTI)’s Robotics competition, where eighty‑two (82) students from across St. Vincent and the Grenadines were honoured for their achievements and participation.
Fifteen (15) Secondary schools and 27 teams participated in the event, with the Mountain View Adventist Academy placing First, the Bethel High School placing second and third place went to the Buccament Bay Secondary School.
Mr. Horne said: “The competition was about programming a virtual robot to traverse a map while doing specific tasks. What set the MVAA team apart from others was the complexity and efficiency of their code. The way they programmed was university level which amazed all the judges. They learned code that took me two whole years in college to learn in a few 30-minute sessions”.
The Prize-giving ceremony was held at the Methodist Church Hall on Wednesday, April 16. Minister of Education Curtis King urged the students to view the skills learnt in the Robotics competition as a life skill which can lead to a lucrative and dynamic career path.
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