Microsoft is hosting the first International DigiGirlz Camp dubbed 2022 Africa-Canada Microsoft DigiGirlz Virtual Camp. It will bring girls from Africa and North America together as part of events planned to mark year’s International Women’s Day on March 8. The three-day Africa-Canada DigiGirlz digital camp for girls in science targets junior to high school girls between the ages of 11 to 17 years. It aims to introduce and inspire them to careers in science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
The theme for the 2022 Africa-Canada Microsoft DigiGirlz Virtual Camp is “lifelong learning”. The digital camp is entirely virtual and will take place between March 7th and 10th. For 2-hour workshops at 4 PM GMT, 7 PM EAT, 8 AM PT, 11 AM ET daily. It will provide an opportunity for the girls from Africa and North America to connect.
Microsoft is organizing the first International DigiGirlz Camp in partnership with Fair Chance Learning. The program will give girls hands-on experience with technology. Through workshops to help them bring their ideas to life as well as opportunities for cross-cultural collaboration and networking.
“The youth who grasp today’s tech will change tomorrow’s world“, notes Wanjira Kamwere, Microsoft Africa Transformation Office’s Business Development Manager, when announcing the program.
“Right now, women lack a clear pathway to technological experience and resources. At Microsoft DigiGirlz, we’re helping girls across the globe—and especially those in under-represented communities—learn the skills they need to realize their passions in a tech-filled future“.
“The camp is open to girls of all skill levels. It provides hands-on workshops that are led by supportive instructors who can help you increase your abilities. For girls who may have already taken technology classes in school, the camp workshops will provide you with quick exposure to new technologies to help enhance your knowledge.”
Wanjira Kamwere, Business Development Manager, Microsoft Africa Transformation Office
Microsoft says enrolment of students is on a first-come, first-served basis. Event content and curriculum are for specific age groups. So applicants are to check the target audience before enrolling a student in a DigiGirlz program. Teachers and educators can also enrol their students as a group.
The DigiGirlz registration form must be completed by an adult aged 18 or older. The parent or legal guardian of attendees under the age of 18 may complete the registration form to register the student for a DigiGirlz program.
Wanjira Kamwere explains that Microsoft DigiGirlz events are to provide a gender-specific approach to introducing girls to career opportunities in technology. In a safe setting that is attuned to addressing specific biases and challenges that might impact their experience. However, event participation is open to anyone, regardless of gender identity, who aligns with the mission to provide an environment that encourages girls’ participation in technology.
Microsoft notes that mentorship programs such as the DigiGirlz can help encourage women to pursue these careers.
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A Qatar University student team is the winner of the 2022 Microsoft Imagine Cup student qualifying competition in Qatar. The team, RE-TEAM, will represent Qatar at the Imagine Cup World Finals in Seattle later this year. For a chance to win 100,000 USD and a mentoring session with Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella.
The 7th edition of the Imagine Cup national qualifying competition saw over 130 students participating virtually. Nine teams moved on to round two of the competition with six teams battling it out at the finals.
RE-TEAM won $5000 cash prize, with their earth-friendly solution ‘The RE-Team Software’, under the Earth category. It seeks to provide durable and efficient robots that are able to detect and sort out different kinds of garbage on a conveyor belt using Microsoft Azure Custom Vision Service. As well as to encourage the public to throw their garbage in the correct bin.
Oryx Team and Team Trojan, the first and second runners up respectively also went to Qatar University student teams. They take home $3000 and $2000 in cash prizes respectively.
Oryx Team created Qalbee, a mobile system app for the early prediction of heart disorder risk, under the Health category. Using real-time ECG signals with the help of artificial intelligence algorithms. Whilst Team Trojan created a chatbot app under the education category, Trojan Wave app, that helps students choose a major.
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Microsoft and INJAZ Qatar launch Women Technopreneurs, a project to integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) into women’s entrepreneurship. The Women Technopreneurs project will focus on entrepreneurship with an emphasis on AI technology.
It will seek to increase the knowledge and qualification of young women in tech. So they can use these skills to benefit the integrated field of technology and business. Microsoft will provide AI knowledge and expertise to the participants in this project.
The project will select 30-40 young women, 18-30 years with an interest in a career in technology and AI from academic institutions in Qatar.
The selected participants will receive support, guidance, and assistance from experts, volunteers and members from Microsoft and INJAZ Qatar for 3 months. They will get the opportunity to improve and broaden their skill set. As well as gain hands-on experience and develop a strong work ethic.
Participants will team up to come up with business ideas that integrate Artificial Intelligence and compete against each other. The winning team will be enrolled in an accelerator program at the Qatar Science and Technology Park. Where they will receive intensive training and mentorship to turn their ideas into a commercially viable business.
Speaking at the launch event, Lana Khalaf, Country Manager at Microsoft Qatar said advanced cloud technologies like AI are driving new economic opportunities for the people of Qatar. Noting, It is vital to ensure everyone has access to these economic opportunities. That is why Microsoft is accelerating efforts to close the digital skills gap and promote inclusion and accessibility. The partnership with INJAZ Qatar to launch Women Technopreneurs comes in line with Microsoft’s commitment to empower young women to innovate, lead and succeed in an increasingly digital world.
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Four undergraduate students teamed up to participate in the 2021 Microsoft Student Hackathon, they eventually emerged winners and have received and accepted offers to join Microsoft as full-time software engineers. The students Gloria Keya, David Lutta, Christine Wambui, and Audrey Njenga will start their professional careers at Microsoft when they graduate from school.
They are all final year students pursuing computer science at universities located in Kenya and Rwanda. Firstly, Gloria and Christine are students at the University of Nairobi(UoN) in Kenya. Whilst David is a student at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology(JKUAT). Finally, Audrey is a student at the African Leadership University(ALU) based in Rwanda.
The students who had just completed their summer internship with Microsoft learned about the hackathon and decided to extend their Microsoft experience. By forming a team to participate in the student hackathon. Which was concurrently taking place with the Microsoft Global Hackathon for Microsoft employees. The hackathon event was to hack solutions for Sustainability, Society, Education, and Ability using Microsoft technologies. In all, there were students from 22 other countries participating in the virtual Microsoft student hackathon. Over the course of just a week, they conceived, built, and tested their idea.
“We wanted to create an opportunity after their Microsoft internship for the students to stay connected to Microsoft and use the skills and knowledge they acquired in a new project and challenge that reflected their own passion,” says Steve Scallen, Senior Director of University Engagement at the Microsoft Garage. “They were all summer interns at Microsoft, and they all have offers to come back, which they’ve accepted. We are very excited they have chosen to start their professional careers at Microsoft.”
The students won the grand prize-winning project with their idea Forest Guard. Which falls under the hack for earth challenge and sustainability category. Forest Guard is a real-time on-site deforestation sensor and alert system that detects and reports dangerous or illegal activity in protected forests. It will be able to detect illegal logging and forest fire, using an IoT tool and Azure cognitive services.
Microsoft says they will have the opportunity to continue hacking the Forest Guard at The Garage when they begin work as full-time software engineers at Microsoft Nairobi in 2022. Microsoft is bringing The Garage program to Africa and will be opening new locations on the Microsoft Lagos and Nairobi campuses. The Garage is a Microsoft resource for employees to connect, experiment and be creative outside of their day job.
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Acer is announcing the TravelMate B3 and TravelMate Spin B3 laptops for education that run Windows 11 SE or 11 Pro Education. The 11.6-inch laptops are able to survive the school day, with military-grade durability and 10-hour battery life. The laptops are to be available in the Middle East and Africa region in quarter 1 of 2022. The Acer TravelMate B3 (TMB311-32) will retail at EUR 359 whilst the TravelMate Spin B3 (TMB311R-32) at EUR 539. Acer says the devices are very customizable and is letting schools choose a model that suits their students’ unique needs.
The laptops are built to support the needs of K-12 schoolchildren featuring the latest Intel Pentium Silver and Celeron processors. They are MIL-STD 810H certified and feature shock-absorbent bumpers. This makes them tough enough to withstand up to 60 kg of downward force and drops from up to 4ft. A unique drainage design helps to protect internal components from moderate spills. A mechanically-anchored key design also provides a double benefit. One, administrators can easily replace the entire keyboard. Two, individual keys are well-secured so that they won’t be dislodged by restless fingers.
Acer TravelMate B3 and Acer TravelMate Spin B3
Durability aside, a number of thoughtful features help the laptops find their place within the classroom. Intel Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) with 2×2 MU-MIMO technology helps with connectivity in multi-user environments. An optional 4G LTE provides students with a connection when away from a router. A webcam makes the laptops suitable for taking classes from home. While a 10-hour battery life means that they can make it through the full school day, too. The battery indicator on the device’s front cover also lets teachers tell a student’s device needs a recharge.
The Acer TravelMate Spin B3 comes equipped with Acer Antimicrobial Design. It features not only an Antimicrobial Corning Gorilla Glass touchscreen, but also an antimicrobial (silver-ion) coating on commonly-used high-touch surfaces (including the keyboard, touchpad, and palm-rest surface) to protect these surfaces.
Users can further opt to include a dockable Wacom AES pen and 5 MP HDR world-facing camera, allowing schools to customize their laptops in order to suit their students’ specific needs.
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Certiport is announcing the winners of the 2021 Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) World Online Championship. The 19th edition of the competition took place virtually from November 9-11, due to the pandemic. It however attracted more than 200,000 contestants from 108 countries. Six people emerged first place winners with a $7,000 cash prize across six categories. Second and third place winners also won $3,500 and $1,500 cash prizes respectively.
The competition is open to students from the ages of 13 to 22 across the globe. They compete with peers to prove their superior skills in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This year, regional competitions were held worldwide and 160 finalists from 33 countries qualified to compete in the final round of the competition.
Four students from Africa emerged top ten winners this year. Paras Girish Khetiya from Kenya came tenth place in the Microsoft Word (Microsoft 365 Apps and Office 2019) category. Mahmoud Elkhoshet, Egypt, sixth place in the Microsoft Word (Office 2016) category. Ankain Lesly Chuo, Cameroon, tenth place in the Microsoft PowerPoint (Microsoft 365 Apps and Office 2019) category. Vanessa Obiedo, Nigeria, tenth place in the Microsoft Excel (Office 2016) category.
Next year, Certiport will host the 2022 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel in Anaheim, CA, from July 24-27, 2022. To learn more about the event, search the event hashtag #MOSWC on Facebook and Twitter.
The 2021 Microsoft Office Specialist World Champions are:
Microsoft Word® (Microsoft 365 Apps and Office 2019)
First place: Ondrej Cach, Czech Republic
Second place: Man Weng Tong, Macau
Third place: Qiao Yan Yang – Malaysia
Microsoft Word® (Office 2016)
First place: Huy Nguyen Quoc, Vietnam
Second place: Leyao Huang, China
Third place: Peng Yu Lin, Taiwan
Microsoft PowerPoint® (Microsoft 365 Apps and Office 2019)
First place: Andrew Chuang Saladin, USA
Second place: Ma. Jessa Gomez, Philippines
Third place: Ka Hin Hung, Hong Kong
Microsoft PowerPoint® (Office 2016)
First place: Masaharu Komiyama, Japan
Second place: Carson Mulvey, USA
Third place: Siddh Vora, India
Microsoft Excel® (Microsoft 365 Apps and Office 2019)
First place: Ami Nakazono, Japan
Second place: Joaquin Saul Rivera Rivera, Peru
Third place: Viktoria Zhelyazkova Kabaivanova, Bulgaria
Microsoft Excel® (Office 2016)
First place: Songyao Luo, China
Second place: Phat Nguyen Duc, Vietnam
Third place: Ka Kiu Chan, Hong Kong
“In 2020, we missed the opportunity to showcase the incredible talents and accomplishments of these MOS Champions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we couldn’t let the global pandemic stand in the way in 2021,” said Ray Murray, Vice President and General Manager – IT, Pearson VUE.
“It is inspiring to see students from 33 countries come together virtually to ‘speak Microsoft’. The winners receive extra praise, but every single student who entered has earned a valuable workforce credential that will help them find success in college and in their career. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of IT skills for tomorrow’s professionals and it’s incredible to see so many young people get introduced to IT certifications through the MOS World Championship.”
“The Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship is one of my favorite events because these students are thrilled to compete and they inspire all of us with their competitive spirit and crowning achievement,” said Leigh Creswell – Director, Public Sector Skills, Microsoft. “These young people who worked to earn valuable industry-recognized certifications represent a bright future for our industry and a solid foundation for the future skilled global workforce.“
Certiport is the leading provider of performance-based IT certification exams that accelerate academic and career opportunities for learners.
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