High school students form an international alliance in pursuit of another XPRIZE victory

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovative students from Valley Christian Schools (VCS) are looking for their next big XPRIZE win; but this time, they won't be doing it alone. Today, VCS announced its involvement in another XPRIZE competition. Their quest begins with the $10M ANA Avatar XPRIZE, a four-year endeavor focused on the development of an avatar system.

This California based high school team will lead an international collaboration of student teams from Asia, London, Seattle, Africa, and India, pairing students from around the globe in pursuit of groundbreaking innovation. This network of students will focus their skills in science, technology, engineering, robotics, the arts, and business to develop a robotic avatar system set on transporting a human's sense, actions, and presence to a remote location in real-time, leading to a more connected world.

No strangers to victory, in May of 2019, VCS' Team Ocean Quest was pronounced the winner of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Bonus Prize, taking home $800,000 in the $7M Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE. This underdog team defied all odds by making history as the youngest finalists in any XPRIZE competition competing amongst an elite group of advanced scientific, corporate, and university teams. Team Ocean Quest's autonomous underwater vehicle helped to usher in a whole new era in ocean exploration.

"Watching these students has been an inspiration to all of us at the XPRIZE Foundation. We look forward to supporting their quest to motivate other students around the world to engage in innovation that will impact future generations," adds Anousheh Ansari, XPRIZE Foundation CEO.

Expanding to an international affiliation is a natural next step for VCS, who is uniquely equipped to lead the advancement efforts through its Research and Development Department and partnership with the Quest Institute for Quality Education, whose mission includes innovation, exploration, and making education accessible to students around the world. While the teams may be separated by miles, they are united in their mission to create innovative solutions to the world's most pressing problems, providing hope for us all that world change is possible.

About Valley Christian Schools:

Valley Christian Schools (VCS) is a private, K-12 Christian school located in the heart of Silicon Valley in San Jose, California. VCS provides rigorous, college-preparatory programs while challenging students toward lives of character, service, and influence in their individual Quest for Excellence™. For more information on Team Ocean Quest, go to www.questforoceans.com. 

About the Quest Institute for Quality Education:

The Quest Institute is an educational non-profit organization that develops and markets proprietary STEM-based educational programs and support materials for K-12 schools globally. The mission of the Quest Institute is to introduce, inspire, and ultimately engage students to understand what it means to pursue STEM-based careers. 

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SOURCE Valley Christian Schools