On May 8, Infosys Bangalore Development Center (DC) concluded the 22nd edition of ‘Spark Catch Them Young’, the annual training programme in information technology for high school students. The two-week long programme introduced more than 60 students of 8th and 9th grades from various government and private schools in Bangalore to digital technologies such as Cloud, AI, big data, IoT and Blockchain. This year, the opportunity to be a part of this programme was also extended to children of the support staff at Infosys Bangalore DC.

Following an online test on mathematics and general science, more than 60 students out of 200 plus applications were selected this year. The students were divided into 10 teams and a mentor was assigned to each team. The program was conducted by Infosys employees and mentors were subject matter experts at Infosys, who guided the students to work on their projects. In the first week students were given an overview of new technologies and concepts, and sessions on communication and skill development were conducted. In the second week the students were made to work on projects under the guidance of mentors. Just like the module, the themes of the projects have changed every year to make the workshop relevant. The themes for this year were creative computing, IoT, blockchain and chatbots. For these projects students were given an opportunity to apply their learnings to identify solutions for real life challenges.

The two-decade old programme, Spark Catch Them Young aims at introducing young minds to new technologies and its application in business and day-to-day life. The programme also aspires to raise young students’ curiosity and interest towards computer science and information technology, enabling them to take sound career decisions. Upon completing this programme, students gain an understanding of technologies like internet, software development and application of computers in business.