Dimitris, Petros B., and Petros T. are members of the Thessaloniki Dojo in Greece. They received a travel bursary to present their project, Hear2See [H2C], at Coolest Projects International 2019. Their project was created using a Raspberry Pi 2 and used Braille to assist people with visual impairments to read menus at restaurants.
Energy and inspiration
Petros B. spoke of his awe at the operational feat of the event, and of how inspired he felt by the people involved: “I have never been to such a big event, especially for young people. The energy and devotion that the organising staff, the judges, and children showed were things that I will always remember.” For Dimitris, a special highlight was meeting other young people who had also travelled great distances to be there: “I liked most that we were able to see other projects created by children all over the world and we also had the chance to talk with them.”
The importance of participating
The boys also mentioned how important participation in the event — rather than winning — was to them. Petros T. had some wise words of advice for future participants, which reflect the ethos of Coolest Projects and CoderDojo: “My advice is to try to make a well-elaborated presentation and do not get nervous or sad if the presentation does not go well, or your project does not work as you want it to — after all, the only rule is to be cool.” His teammate Petros B. agreed: “We didn’t win anything, but we certainly had a lot of fun.” This is what we hope all young people take away from their Coolest Projects experience.
Dimitris, Petros and Petros’ travel bursary was in part funded by one of our generous Coolest Projects sponsors, BNY Mellon.
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