Microsoft student hackathon kicks off, seeks Climate Change solutions

Microsoft student hackathon kicks off, seeks Climate Change solutions

Microsoft Africa Development Center (ADC) is launching the 3rd season of its sponsored Game of Learners (GOL) student hackathon competition. The GOL initiative aims to improve digital and coding abilities among African university students. The Microsoft student hackathon participants will seek to find solutions that address the effects of climate change on the continent.

This year the 5-week hackathon’s objective is to propose solutions that reduce or reverse gas emissions and footprints, based on the theme Climate Change & Sustainability. Season 3 has a total of 8 teams made up of 5 participants from across East Africa participating. A Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador will lead each team and they will get mentorship and training from Microsoft.

The program’s main objective is to establish a fun, hands-on learning experience for students. It provides a virtual environment where students learn new technologies and build impactful solutions for their community. Overall, the program provides a platform for Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors to hone their leadership skills as Team Captains while leading and building impactful solutions with the learners.   

The best project will collaborate with the Green Belt Movement to advance the winning solution. Weekly episodes of the GOL Show will be available online as the teams document their progress. Other winning categories are; people’s choice (project with most votes on DevPost), Best Media Presence (best video content) and Learners (highest team average points on Microsoft Learn).

Microsoft student hackathon

 ”Part of our mission in ADC is solving Africa’s problems with Microsoft technology,” said ADC Managing Director Jack Ngare while making the announcement. “Africa is not immune to climate change challenges, and this is one of the issues we’d like to see tackled using Microsoft technology while also upskilling and enabling higher education tech enthusiasts in the region.” 

Green Belt Movement’s Paul Thiong’o welcomed this year’s theme on climate change, noting that it’s in line with the organization’s vision to have a values-driven society of people who consciously work for continued improvement of their livelihoods and a greener, cleaner world.  

At the Green Belt Movement, we believe in empowering communities to take action against climate change, whose effects are already being felt across Africa. Our experience shows that when the communities understand the linkage between their actions, environment, and their livelihood situations, they are more likely to muster their energies and act for change. As a result, we are delighted to be a part of this noble initiative, which will see our young people contribute positively to ongoing efforts to address climate change challenges.” 

“The GOL engages directly with students regardless of the higher education institution they come from. Born virtual, GOL is a program without borders. All GOL activities are supported by volunteers from Microsoft and partners as coaches, mentors, judges, speakers, and trainers,” Ngare explains, adding: “GOL is formed like a sports league, starting with a season, and followed by off-season clinics and exhibitions.” 

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Microsoft Student hackathon winners get hired as full-time software engineers at Microsoft

Microsoft Student hackathon winners get hired as full-time software engineers at Microsoft

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.

Microsoft Student hackathon Kenya Africa

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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