A group of 20 students had the opportunity to conquer the challenges that computers, iPads, Kindles and iPhones pose to them courtesy Digicel and the UWI, when they participated in the first CoderDojo in the Caribbean.
CoderDojo in T&T is organised by Garrett Quinn of Digicel's Business Solutions, and Dr Andrew Borg, lecturer in computer science at UWI.
A release from Digicel said this exciting opportunity for techy kids, began in T&T in March and provided a forum for young inventors between the ages of seven and 17 to learn how to code, develop Web sites, apps, programmes, games and much more.
In addition to learning to code, Coder Club participants meet children with similar interests and talents and are given the opportunity to show off what they've been working on. Students ranged in age from Daniel at six years old, to Sebastien who is 14 and took part in eight sessions over a five-month period which ended on July 5.
The children were given the challenge to develop projects which ranged from football and educational games as well as a game that simulated a trip to the vet with your pet. Each student was assigned a mentor to help them along in the project. Projects were worked on during the CoderDojo sessions and were continued at home during the participant's spare time.
At the graduating ceremony to which parents and mentors were invited, each student was required to stand before the audience, do a presentation on their project and give a demonstration of how it actually worked. Such was the high standard of delivery that every student was given a huge round of applause at the end of their presentation.
The gathering then received inspiring messages from Digicel CEO John Delves, UWI Computing and Information Technology department head Dr Permanand Mohan, Dr Borg and Quinn.
Students were then presented with a certificate of achievement for participating in the CoderDojo.
For more information on CoderDojo.com, visit the Web site and look out for the details of the T&T chapter of CoderDojo continuing later this year.
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