IGT, Cotton Tree Foundation hold second coding, robotics camp

As technology grows and is increasingly becoming the future, the Cotton Tree Foundation and the International Game Technology (IGT) hosted a second virtual regional coding and robotics camp at the foundation’s Spanish Acres, Ariapita Road, St Ann’s centre for young people between the ages of 12-18.

The other islands involved are Barbados, Jamaica, St Kitts and St Maarten. The programme began on Monday and is expected to end on July 28.

IGT is an entertainment and gaming service platform with its holding company headquartered in the United Kingdom, with operating headquarters in Rome, Italy; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Providence, Rhode Island.

This coding and robotics camp comes under IGT’s After School Advantage (ASA) initiative, which ensures students have access to participate in educational opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics while developing skills and knowledge for the jobs to come.

Executive director of the Cotton Tree Foundation Sita Persad said IGT covered the cost of this programme, as well as the computers and laptops the students used for the camp. IGT has made over 50 donations to its ASA centres between 2011 and now.

“We had 12 participants last year and this year we are carded to have the same, six at level one and six at level two,” she said, speaking to the media at the launch on Monday.

Last year, the students were asked to create their own website as a final project at the end of the programme and since have been asking for a level three, she said.

Isaiah Alexander, formal supervisor of the IGT robotics camp, now social worker and outreach officer of the Cotton Tree Foundation, said the feedback was amazing and he saw exponential growth.

He also referred the final project of last year and said, “The website, the product they gave us was out of this world. For the age group – 11-18 – the websites were business proposals, I would say. So I would like to see this actually executed and to keep them growing as the time proceeds.”

One of the websites that stood out to him was one based on a bakery, which he said was even better than what he curated for his own small business.

The foundation also hosts other activities within the centre with around 75 children in the three-five, six-seven, eight-nine and ten-12 age groups. This year’s theme is science and life skills, and it is the 18th camp the foundation has done in its 30 years of existence.

Persad said along with teaching the children discipline and the dos and don’ts of the classroom, they are also able do physical activity through dance, music and yoga classes. She added that they are also learning – without realising it – through activities such as cooking or doing science experiments.

The foundation’s camp co-ordinator Celeste Ferreira said it also offers programmes in entrepreneurship, financial management, anxiety and management, anger and grief management, emotional intelligence, social wellness, time management and productivity and physical health and wellness for the youths in need of it.