Maynooth College and Microsoft visit

At the end of January, 16 YouthReach NGGS students, as well as students from other YouthReach centres, were invited to visit the Microsoft Ireland offices.

After a short trip on the Luas, we arrived at the building and were greeted by Corey and Brian.

We were here to take part in the

Microsoft STEM Passport for Inclusion, in conjunction with Maynooth College.

Following our first day in Microsoft, we would have 3 sessions in YouthReach Parnell Square, 1 session in Microsoft, and a final session in Maynooth College.

STEM stands for

Science Technology Engineering Mathematics

It has been recognised that there is an imbalance in the number of women taking up careers in the STEM area, and Maynooth College and Microsoft are running the Passport for Inclusion program to help attract more women and under-represented groups to the field.

We started the day by programming robot vehicles: we worked out what each colour card told the vehicle to do, then by laying the cards in sequence we made the vehicles "drive" by themselves.

After lunch (thanks, Microsoft!), we learned about game design and programming,

using Microsoft's MakeCode online software, and programming for micro:bit.

We would be be using micro:bit in our sessions in YouthReach Parnell Square the following week.

Microsoft's building was massive, with over 4000 staff members. Everyone was so nice and helpful, and we learned that tech companies really like to have staff who have fluency in more than one language.

Have a look at our gallery below for our images in Microsoft, Leopardstown.

After our 3 sessions in YouthReach Parnell Square, we returned to Microsoft to learn more about STEM, machine learning and programming.

In our last day in Maynooth College, we finished our mood boards we had started the previous week and gave a presentation about our chosen project. We chose from a wide range of topics: from climate change, to equality, to sustainability, we had a huge range to choose from, all of which Microsoft are supporting in our communities.

Maynooth College in Kildare was originally a seminary, where priests were trained.

Now it's also a college, with over 15,000 students from 100 countries. It is also Ireland's only university town.

We had a great time in Microsoft, YouthReach Parnell Square and Maynooth College. Special thanks to Corey and Brian in Microsoft, and Isabel in Maynooth College.