A former overseas Filipino worker who spent more than a decade at the drafting tables of the Gulf has helped carry a US student team to a two-award finish on the international stage. At the NASA ORBIT Challenge showcase in Houston, Texas, Team MEKAH of Santa Ana College took home two special awards and an additional $15,000 in prize funding at the awarding ceremony on July 17, 2026 — and the team’s mechanical drafting and design lead, Anthony “Tony” Mendoza, was its sole Filipino member.
The team earned the Integration Bonus Award, recognizing the real-world impact of its autonomous robotic systems for both space exploration and Earth applications, and the Complementary AI Award, recognizing its integration of Physical AI, computer vision, onboard autonomy, and AI-driven decision support. The wins came a day after Team MEKAH delivered its live showcase presentation on July 16, laying out Project Threshold — a design built around two robots, Aether and Morpheus, meant to check airlock air quality and monitor astronaut health — before NASA scientists, engineers, and industry professionals. “Presenting our project in front of NASA scientists, engineers, and industry professionals was a truly unforgettable milestone,” Tony said.
The result caps a long-shot run. Team MEKAH was one of just 11 finalist teams selected from roughly 100 schools nationwide, competing against far better-resourced programs to reach the Houston showcase.
For readers who followed his story here, the award also closes a loop that began at a drafting table half a world away. Tony spent more than a decade as a mechanical and MEP designer across Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates before deciding, at 40, to leave an established career in the Gulf and finish his bachelor’s degree in design in the United States.
He credits the years abroad for the win. “I poured 200% of my dedication into this competition, bringing 13 years of mechanical design experience that I gathered from working in the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates,” Tony said. “I could not have achieved this without the experiences and the countries that shaped me into a professional designer.”
A victory framed as proof, not just a prize
Tony was quick to place the award in the context of the community he comes from. His late father was an OFW, and so were his aunt, uncle, cousins, and friends. “This victory is solid proof that OFWs are so much more than just workers,” he said. “We are gifted with immense perseverance, hard work, dedication, and ambition.” He addressed his fellow migrant workers directly: “Para sa inyo ang tagumpay na ito.”
He was equally candid about the road there. Before the milestone, he faced hundreds of company rejections and bullying early in his career — setbacks he said he turned into motivation to study harder and master his craft. His message to Filipinos still in the struggle was plain: age is just a number, poverty is not a hindrance, and current worries are only temporary. “If you get tired, rest but never stop chasing your dreams,” Tony said.
From a production line in Cavite to an AutoCAD course paid for by an uncle, to job sites in the Gulf, and finally to a stage in Houston, his path has been anything but direct — which is, in his telling, exactly the point.
