Microsoft starts them young at YouthSpark Kids Camp

Microsoft yesterday introduced 480 kids aged five to 13 and their parents to the latest technology and how to create their own games at the first-ever Singapore YouthSpark Kids Camp @ Microsoft.

Participants took their first steps towards building their own apps through code.org’s Hour of Code challenge and Microsoft Kodu Game Lab, which lets kids create games on the PC and Xbox via a simple visual programming language. 

Clair Deevy, Corporate Social Responsibility Lead for Microsoft Asia Pacific said, “Coding is not something just for older kids or tech geeks; the activities yesterday were designed to be fun and to show anyone they can learn to code and write their own basic programs."

Deevy touched on the perception that programming and science are male oriented. “Beyond the fun though we hope to excite more young people, especially young girls, about computer science and programming as those skills can help spring you into many careers and will become even more in demand in the future.”

The Singapore Committee for UN Women showcased their new programme, Women in STEM: Girls Today, Pioneers Tomorrow, at the event. The programme aims to encourage more girls in Singapore to take up careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through mentoring, events and a series of day camps for girls aged 10-15.

“The percentage of women IT professionals in Singapore is only 27% at the moment, so we see a huge opportunity and we are delighted to be involved in the YouthSpark Kids Camp @ Microsoft to help spread the word, encourage and inspire more young women," said Mrinalini Venkatachalam, Program Manager, Singapore Committee for UN Women.

Part of Microsoft’s YouthSpark global commitment to empower youth, the YouthSpark Kids Camp @ Microsoft builds on the coding momentum started with the #WeSpeakCode campaign earlier this year. #WeSpeakCode seeks to make “Code – the official Second Language of Asia Pacific” and has been supported by celebrities such as Stefanie Sun and Eunice Olsen. It provides a taste of what coding is, demonstrates how accessible learning coding can be, and celebrates professional coders across the region.

As part of #WeSpeakCode and in line with its long-term commitment to invest in talent development to add vibrancy to the local technology ecosystem, Microsoft Singapore had announced earlier in the year a partnership with Nanyang Polytechnic, with support from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), on a series of computational thinking courses to further build a strong coding community in Singapore. This is aligned with the Infocomm Media Masterplan’s focus of developing computational thinking as a national capability.

Five other schools in Singapore have also expressed interest in running coding in their classrooms by signing up for the Code.org Hour of Code activity with support from Microsoft. Additional schools who are interested can visit www.wespeakcode.net for more information.

*Images from Microsoft.