Following a very successful first season in 2021, TechSpark Giving, with the support of our partners Nexthink, are delighted to continue their corporate social responsibility commitments to prepare young, motivated students for the Swiss Olympiad in Informatics.
Swiss Olympiad in Informatics 2021 Season Recap
In May 2020, led by Kate McKee, TechSpark Giving invited a small group of students to join classes in preparation for the Swiss Olympiad in Informatics with an experienced instructor, Greg Burman.
We had initially planned to only host 10 Saturday morning classes, but after the initial 10 classes ended, the students asked if TechSpark could continue with classes through the first round of qualifications until the end of November.
We were happy to oblige and the group continued for a further 12 weeks.
Our 2021 team:
- Ferdinand qualified in10th place in the Junior category, which also granted him an invitation to the special SOI weekend event. He continued to win a Bronze medal in the SOI final. Additionally, Ferdinand was invited to join the Swiss team at the European Junior Olympiad in Informatics. You can read more here.
- Victor qualified in 19th place in the Junior category and also qualified for the final round.
- Simi narrowly missed the cutoff for the final round qualification by coming joint 24th.
- Yulia – was over the age limit for the Junior category and had to compete in the combined category, where the scoring is much tougher. Nonetheless, she qualified in joint 40th place out of 83 participants.
Overall, we were very pleased and proud of the students’ performance, especially considering this was their first-ever attempt at an Informatics Olympiads.
Coming up next season 2022
We will continue our commitment to support students on their SOI journey, while at the same time collaborating with Lausanne-based Nexthink, sponsor of our ‘Coding for Girls’ programme.
To help us in executing the training in 2022, we are teaming up with “Girls Code Too”, an association, led by Lara Riparip, dedicated to closing the gender gap in the tech sector.
With our support, Girls Code Too is able to invite 24 motivated and talented girls to join social workshops focused on informatics olympiads training and more specifically on preparing them to compete in the next season’s Swiss Olympiad in Informatics!