Member of the Month for January 2023: SGAC_Decode Organsing Team

SGAC_Decode was a CubeSat Mission Design competition organized by the former NPoC of Nicaragua (Roxy Williams), the former and current NPoC of Saint Lucia (Cheyenne Polius and Taton David), NPoC of Jamaica (Dominique Campbell), former and current NPoC of Trinidad & Tobago, and former NPoC of Barbados. The aim of this competition was to give the participants hands-on experience on CubeSat Mission designs with the foundations on every aspect needed for the mission. The competition was addressed to students and young professionals with no experience in CubeSat designs.

Team’s role as part of the SGAC team

Roxy Williams – SGAC_Decode event Manager & NCAC Regional Coordinator
Cheyenne Polius – SGAC_Decode Deputy Manager & Former Saint Lucia NPoC
Dominique Campbell – SGAC_Decode Decoders Team & Jamaica NPoC
Verrol-Ann Scott – SGAC_Decode Decoders Team & former NPoC of Barbados
Ariann Duncan – SGAC_Decode Comms Team & former NPoC of Trinidad & Tobago
Isaiah Thomas – SGAC_Decode Comms Team & current NPoC of Trinidad & Tobago
Taton David – SGAC_Decode Logistics Team, & current NPoC of Saint Lucia
Chad Skinner – SGAC_Decode Logistics Team

Trainers:
Daniel Wischert – Co-lead of Small Satellite Project Group
Laura Manoliu – Co-lead of Small Satellite Project Group
Marcelo Boldt – SGAC Pre- Accelerator Program Co-Lead
Nicholas Florio – Co-lead Commercial Space Project Group
Marcos Rojas – SGC Manager
Genaro Grajeda – Member
Filo Gomez – Member
Adolfo Chaves – Member
Mclee Kerolle – Member

Their reaction to receiving the nomination:

“We are absolutely thrilled and honoured to receive this award. We want to express our sincere gratitude to Matteo Cappella who nominated us and to the people who voted for us and recognized our work and accomplishments. We are grateful for our decoders as well, we worked in making this competition for them and without them, we wouldn’t have had a competition.

This award is not just a recognition of our efforts, but a testament to the power of teamwork, collaboration, and enabling space for all to inspire the future generation of space enthusiasts from emerging countries. We share this award with all those who have contributed to the success of the competition from the organizing team, to the trainers, judges, RCs, and SGAC team in general.

Thank you again for this incredible honour. We are grateful beyond words.”

What learnings have you got for those considering joining SGAC?

“As a team, we learnt a lot from this. Especially the importance of teamwork and collaboration. This initiative started as a collaboration between NPoCs, then it expanded to SGAC’s project groups and other regions from SGAC as well. So, we would like to share with students and young professionals considering joining SGAC, don’t hesitate to join the network. It is an organization that opens opportunities and it also connects you with people that then will become your life-long friends and space buddies with whom you can continue doing innovations in space.”

Would you like to share with us a special quote you feel guided by, or how would you motivate others to stay focused on their goals?

“There were two quotes that guided us through the beginning and the rest of the competition, one is “The World is your oyster” because we wanted the decoders to take this opportunity of learning about space mission designs specifically with small satellites and the other one is “Teamwork makes the dream work.” by Bang Gae. As a team, we had a goal set for the competition, and working together we were able to achieve this goal. Continue working hard for your goals because hard work pays off and take every opportunity you can.”