DkIT Inspiring the Next Generation of Computer Wizzes

06 August 2024

DkIT recently hosted four separate Summer Computing Camps on campus for over 160 local secondary school students aged 12-17.

This was the largest ever offering of computer camps by the Institute and these high in demand camps are growing rapidly in popularity year on year, with this year’s series of camps being completely booked out.

The camps were split into two different offerings, one was the new iteration of the Institute’s Creative Camp, where students sampled Animation, Modelling, Games Development and more. The other style of camp was a more traditional take on computing and programming.

These camps were run by the Computing Department in DkIT and was staffed by Niall Dowd, Retention & Recruitment Officer along with the support of student mentors from a variety of the Institute’s computing and creative courses. The student mentors allowed a fantastic opportunity for the attendees to learn from current DkIT students on these subjects. The aim of these camps was to provide prospective students with a taste of some of the computing subjects they might want to study in the future.

These camps were free of charge and were extremely well attended and DkIT would align this to the fantastic outreach work the Institute undertakes with schools in the region.

The Computing & Creative Departments in DkIT are a vibrant hub of innovation where creativity and technology unite. The computing industry is flourishing and evolving and intersects all aspects of our lives, our work and society. DkIT’s dynamic computing courses have an excellent reputation within the growing IT sector in Ireland and the Institute’s courses offer students the practical experience and technological know-how that is needed to excel in this exciting industry.

Niall Dowd said,

“We were delighted to be able to offer these camps to local students again this year. It’s fantastic to see the camps are in such high demand. We really enjoy meeting the participants and sharing and developing their enthusiasm for the subjects. We were also highly encouraged to see so many young women attending and enjoying computing, hopefully they’ll continue their interest and bring their talents into 3rd level studies in the area and eventually through to industry”.

DkIT’s courses provide students with sought-after skills in computer-programming, database development, networking, website development, cyber-security, games development, data science, systems modelling and much more.