More than 100 students, and their teachers, from second-level schools throughout the northwest visited LYIT on Friday 11 March for the first ever ‘uCode’ event at the institute.
Targeting second-level students with an interest in coding was the aim of the game, and this programming based competition, involved students using the programming application ‘Scratch’.
With 39 teams competing for 1st and 2nd prizes in two categories, it was always going to be difficult, however, on the day 4 teams shone through, and the winners were as follows;
Category 1 Winners (Aged 11-13 Years)
1st Prize: Pauric Gallen, Sean Patton, Dylan Carlin from St. Columba’s College, Stranorlar
Runner-up: Clionagh McLaughlin, Aishling Logue, Elsa Pena Hernandez from Thornhill College, Derry
Category 2 Winners (Aged 14-18 Years)
1st Prize: Ryan McKeever, Ciaran Norris, Chloe Mitchell from St. Josephs College, Derry, St Columb’s Derry and St. Cecilia’s College
Runner-Up: Kris Mendal, Jakub Pawlowski, Przemek Gojski from St. Eunan’s College, Letterkenny.
The prizes were awarded to the winners and runners-up by Paul Hannigan, President at Letterkenny Institute of Technology and Michael Murphy, Captain of the Donegal Team.
Before making the presentations, Paul addressed the large audience.
He said “When it was suggested to hold a uCode event at the institute it was hoped that possibly 6-7 teams would participate. To see 39 teams, from secondary schools across Derry and Donegal represented at this event, shows the level of interest in this area.
“The Department of Computing at Letterkenny Institute of Technology is continually developing creative ways to connect with second level students and given the numbers taking part, it looks like this will be become an annual event within the department.”