Mentoring children to create impact, as part of Coolest Projects
I joined Liberty Global in September 2020 as a Technology and Innovation (T&I) graduate on the two-year rotational scheme. I spent my first six months in Product Strategy and now I am currently in my second rotation working with the Corporate Responsibility team. I feel fortunate to have experienced a number of exciting and engaging projects so far, one great example is being involved with Coolest Projects.
Coolest Projects is a campaign organised by Raspberry Pi, providing opportunities for young people (up to the age of 18) to create technology projects and have them showcased in an online gallery. This year there were over 1000 entries from over 40 countries.
The campaign is free and open to anyone, meaning children worldwide are taking part and displaying the creative, technological prowess of their generation. For myself, a T&I graduate, it is fantastic to see how engaged and excited the younger generation are about combining technology and everyday learning Coolest Projects encourages children to think about how everyday problems, such as waste and pollution, can be tackled by technological solutions.
Since the campaign started, in 2012, a number of companies help and sponsor Raspberry Pi to ensure its success. This year Liberty Global wanted to expand its involvement so alongside EPAM, Raspberry Pi and Virgin Media Ireland, we offered to organise and host a number of BOOST mentoring sessions.
The mentoring sessions were created to help children taking part in Coolest Projects, so they can engage fully and learn as much as possible from the experience. Mentoring sessions were held in April, covering areas such as Project Design, Coding, Project Presentation as well as Project Impact. As I had been helping manage our involvement in Coolest Projects whilst in the CR team, I was keen to volunteer to help with the Project Impact mentoring sessions.
This opportunity gave me the chance to use some of the skills I had learnt within my first 7 months at Liberty Global to help and hopefully inspire a younger generation who were also interested in technology. The sessions were designed to help children understand what impact is, how it can be created and sustained, and how this tied into their projects. We also discussed the UN Sustainable Development Goals, highlighting how they are focused upon making the world more just and equal by implementing long-lasting change in society and the environment.
I was proud to be a Liberty Global ambassador during this experience – Liberty Global is a champion sponsor of Coolest Projects 2021, supporting Raspberry Pi as it searches for young digital innovators. One of our Responsibility goals is enabling digital inclusion and accessibility in society, empowering positive change through technology and Coolest Projects is a great example of this.
I found it remarkable and inspiring that children were so interested and dedicated to creating a positive impact and legacy at such a young age. In one of the mentoring sessions, children as young as eight were thinking about and formulating ideas using their technological knowledge and skills to combat climate change and to help endangered animals. Their creativity and perspectives were refreshing and encouraged myself to think about how everyday I can also work towards and create a more impactful legacy. I am really looking forward to seeing the judge’s favourites from the Coolest Projects showcase and can only guess how incredible the projects will be.
