All-girls Kingsbridge Heights team shines in NYC Minecraft sustainability competition

A group of six girls from the P.S. 86 Kingsbridge Heights School are the reigning elementary Bronx champions in the Minecraft Education “Battle of the Boroughs,” a competition where participants build a Minecraft world that imagines a more sustainable version of city spaces.

The fifth graders were among 3,395 students that took part in the battle, according to the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. Of the thousands of students, who make up 679 teams, the Kingsbridge Heights School was one of 15 that advanced to the Mayor’s Cup Final. An elementary, middle and high school team are chosen for each borough.

Teams are given a prompt by judges, and then have a limited amount of time to work together — with help from a coding program — to create the world. They are ranked based on communication with one another, presentation and having design features that are solution-driven, accessible and on-topic.

The competition is part of the New York City Video Game Festival, and is a collaboration between the mayor’s office, New York City Public Schools, the NYC Collegiate Esports Circuit Finals and Video Game Amateurs. It was launched in 2021 with the goal of engaging students in shaping the future of their city, according to NYC Public Schools.

On May 9, the girls competed in the Mayor’s Cup Final. While they didn’t win the final, computer science teacher and instructor of the club Kim Judin said throughout the season, the girls transformed. Those that were shy became more self-assured, and others that were already outgoing harnessed their skills in leadership roles. As a team, they also learned how to complete tasks under a tight deadline.

In the regional competition back in March, the girls had 30 minutes to research and 30 minutes to create a cleaner, safer and faster version of the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center, a major distribution hub in the South Bronx that struggles with pollution. Down to the wire, the girls worked together on a Minecraft world that had additional lanes to decrease traffic, solar-powered lighting, green spaces and a farmers market. Eleven-year-old Leeah Gonzalez was the one to present the world to the judges — a role known as the speaker.

“I felt very proud of myself,” Leeah said, noting she was confident the team would win. “It took a lot of guts to be speaking up there.”

Learning how to code came quickly to the girls, through a Microsoft block coding program called MakeCode, where the user can drag and drop color-coded boxes to build their code. For Yafatou Bayo, 12, the team’s primary coder, the concept was familiar.

Yafatou said when she was younger, she started using Scratch, an online program that teaches coding basics. Her skills improved while working with the team, but that wasn’t her only motivation for joining.

“The whole reason why I joined the club was to kind of gain confidence,” Yafatou said. “I feel like I’ve cracked a little bit out of my shell.”

Zurisadai Quiroga-Vazquez, 10, was the team’s “driver.” When the others were presenting, Zurisadai was at the computer, guiding viewers through the Minecraft world. Zurisadai said she appreciates how even in the face of a challenge, the team still knows how to get along and have fun with one another. They also benefit from the expression Minecraft allows.

“It’s a game that doesn’t have limits,” Zurisadai said. “You can express your creativity in any way that you want.”

The same sentiment was shared by Joselyn Castrejon, 10, who was another speaker on the team. Joselyn has an interest in art, and said she enjoys building freely on Minecraft.

The team was not only judged on the content of the world, but on teamwork too. The judges paid attention to how team members spoke to one another, Leeah said. The girls admitted they do run into conflict from time to time.

“Sometimes we do argue, like a lot,” Joselyn said, explaining that tensions rise when the team members disagree on if they have the time to build certain things. “But then we end up talking it out.” 

The girls took The Press through one of their worlds — a variant of their school, complete with the face of a tiger, the school’s mascot, built in the sky. Outside was a gated garden with water flowing in between rows of plants. Inside was an auditorium, a library, a cafeteria and classrooms with virtual versions of their teachers.

The lighting was powered by Redstone, a resource in Minecraft. Gracie Deleon, 11, was responsible for the electricity in the worlds, an important factor when considering how to make a world sustainable. The girls previously incorporated automatic doors and ramps to prioritize accessibility as well.

Adriana Cortes, 10, was the team’s alternate, meaning she would sub in for a team member if they were unavailable. Though she did not participate in the regional competition, she said she enjoys Minecraft and being around her friends during practices.

As the girls prepare to graduate and move onto middle school, many going their separate ways, Judin hopes they will carry with them the sense of confidence they’ve developed, and the importance of working together.