Newry students successfully complete leading IT summer camp

Two local students have successfully completed one of Northern Ireland’s leading IT infrastructure summer camps.

Newry students David McKenna and Thomas Brownlee who both study at Abbey CBS in Newry, participated in the 2019 Novosco Camp in partnership with Ulster University took place in early August at Ulster University’s Jordanstown campus.

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The five-day initiative, which was free of charge to students aged 16-17 and enrolled at schools and colleges across Northern Ireland, provided first-hand, practical experience in the management and development of IT infrastructure and systems in a fun and engaging learning environment.

Professional IT engineers from Novosco, experts from the Connected Health Innovation Centre at Ulster University, and lecturers from the University’s School of Computing, facilitated the camp, which also included a tour of Novosco’s state-of-the-art Belfast headquarters at Catalyst Inc.

A mix of theory and hands-on experience, the camp covered networks, programming, building circuits, sensors, machine learning and more.

In a bid to nurture future IT talent during the camp and beyond, each student was provided with a Raspberry Pi, a small and affordable computer used to learn programming, which they could keep.

Novosco Managing Director Patrick McAliskey said, “Novosco Camp is one of my favourite weeks of the year as we get to engage with young people who are passionate about IT and eager to learn, as well as to work closely with the fantastic team at Ulster University.

“I am also delighted that we have been able to increase the intake for Novosco Camp this year to 50 pupils.

“It’s an understatement to say that Northern Ireland’s IT sector is fast-growing and provides a vast number of opportunities for talented people.

“Novosco Camp helps us communicate that to potential future talent as well as to help them develop their experience and skills so that they can potentially go on to have a fantastic career in IT,” he added.

Dr Nicola Ayre, Associate Head of the School of Computing at Ulster University commented, “Ulster University nurtures world-class IT and computing talent every year, students we are proud to say are industry ready and sought-after by global companies, industry disruptors and local technology firms.

“Our partnership with the Novosco Camps explores the breadth of opportunity a degree in computing at Ulster University offers to potential students. It is an invaluable opportunity to develop skills, raise ambitions and prepare future IT leaders by presenting the opportunity for participants to engage with our state-of-the-art robot, experiment with some of the very latest technology in our research labs and fully immerse themselves in the world of IT beyond a classroom setting.”

For more information about the Novosco Camp, in partnership with Ulster University, visit novoscocamp.com<http://www.novoscocloudcamp.com/>.

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Posted by NewryTimes News on Aug 16 2019. Filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry