Bridge21 @ Intel!
Intel, through their She Will programme, want to empower girls and women around the world by fostering equal economic and educational opportunities. The programme encourages millions of girls and women to participate, prosper, and lead in the global economy. As part of this, about 100 Transition Year girls from Muckross Park College took part in two days of activities in the Intel complex over the past two weeks.
On the first day, half of the group toured the huge site, met some of staff and generally learned a bit about what goes on out there. The other half took part in a full day of Bridge21 activities in the Intel Innovation Open Lab. The girls were given a crash course in working as a team and then given a project to complete. Each team had to come up with a “future technology” product; an idea or invention for the world of 2050! The girls had lots of wild and weird ideas at first and then each team refined these down to one great idea each. The next step was to create an advertising campaign to sell their “product”. The facilities available were a great help to the teams with the whiteboard walls, in particular, proving both popular and useful.
At the end of the day, each team had to make a short presentation of the posters and videos they had created. Robot doctors, shoes with adjustable heels, smart wardrobes, time travel and human gills (we live under water in 2050, obviously!) were among the ideas presented. The girls did amazing work and everyone was impressed with their creativity, enthusiasm and ability to get their projects finished to a high standard and to a deadline!
On the second day, the two groups swapped over so that everyone got to experience both activities. At the end of day two, some of the teams made final presentations of their work in the main auditorium. They showed their project work again but also talked about what they had learned during the workshops. Technical skills, creativity, teamwork and meeting deadlines were all mentioned. The girls said they really enjoyed the experience and everyone at Bridge21 would say the same thing!
