Students recall Silicon Valley visit

With the second Intel Ideation Camp coming up in Cross & Passion College on January 9/10, the thoughts of the 2013 team which won the National Finals of the inaugural event and won a trip to Silicon Valley might just help motivate the new batch of participants, writes Brian Byrne.

The group, Team Adapt, devised the idea of a cover for a smartphone which could be used for diagnosing low blood sugar and notifying parents or doctor as well as holding an emergency treatment supply. Aimed at young people with diabetes, they called their device Bete-It.

For Robyn Kenny, the experience of being in the famous innovation hotbed universities of Stanford and Berkley last October stood out particularly. "The overall experience was great, in addition to all the workshops we attended, even if all of us don't necessarily have an interest in entrepreneurship."

Caoimhe O Fearghaill's outstanding lesson from the trip was that it doesn't matter what age you are, or what degree you have behind you, it's passion that counts for success. "You've got to have passion and desire about the product or service you provide, and if you have that you will achieve."

With Bevan Murray it was meeting up directly with some of the really big guns in the tech world that made the big impression. "We knew we were going to speak to some important people, but when we got there we found that most of the speakers were self-made millionaires who all owned a few companies each. They told us what they had done to succeed and that helped us a lot, I think."

"That networking is the most important thing you can do is what I learned," Aaron McLoughlin Sutherland told the Diary. "It's not really about who you know, but who your contacts know. Meeting the entrepreneurs you don't get to see every day will impact hugely on the rest of my life, and learning that they're just ordinary people who you wouldn't expect to be millionaires."

Wayne Donoghue described the information that he learned during the few days in Stanford and Berkley as 'breathtaking' and is likely to shape his future. "It was an experience that can go on anyone's CV, and a big step for us."

The young people were talking to the Diary at a recent reception for them in the College. Godwyn Jalanga was unavoidably absent. They are pictured above with Noel Clare, deputy principal CPC; Glenda Groome, TY coordinator CPC; Joe O'Connor, Kilcullen Lions; Darragh Fitzgerald (back centre), president Kilcullen Lions; Terri O'Sullivan, Sixth Year head, CPC; and Clodagh Kavanagh, Kilcullen Lions.

"You went out and met the rock stars of Silicon Valley, and came back as the science rock stars of Ireland," the current president of Kilcullen Lions, Darragh Fitzgerald, told them at the reception. "We never dreamed that our team would get to the final, and then win and get to California. You did great for Kilcullen, and great for the country."

Glenda Groome, the TY coordinator at CPC who accompanied the group to California along with deputy principal Noel Clare and Lise Harlow of Intel, said they had met people 'who were on the top of their game'. "Our students were there just to observe, but they were called on to speak and they made a massive impact," she added.

The students showed a video presentation with highlights of their trip, and Manev Subodh, Global Manager - Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Corporate Affairs at Intel Corporation, spoke at the reception via a recorded interview.

The Intel Ideation Camps are organised in Ireland's second level schools by the Lions Clubs in each participant area.