Give us your Pitch is back!

This week we feature a enterprising project with a key goal to help train and guide young kids and teenagers on how to teach themselves how to code. Young Rewired State runs in August 2012 and see below the pitch from Emma Mulqueeny on what YRS is all about and why they are crowdfunding this project…

“Our primary focus is to find and foster the young children and teenagers who are driven to teaching themselves how to code, how to program the world around them. This is a mighty challenge though well-supported with free tutorials online, but inevitably an isolating and solitary activity. It is free for every child to enter, so long as they are aged 18 or under and have a rudimentary understanding of programming — although we do send out free resources in advance of the week for those who are unsure of their skills.

The event in 2012 runs from the 6th to the 11th August. During that week businesses, small and large, around the country act as hosts to local young people, YRS alumni, Rewired State mentors and other volunteers. A challenge is set to build digital products: mobile and web, using at least one piece of open data.

It is free for every child to enter so long as they are aged 18 or under and have a rudimentary understanding of programming – although we do send out free resources in advance of the week for those who are unsure of their skills.

Festival of code – At the end of the week everyone piles on coaches, trains and cars to The National Museum of Computing in Bletchley Park, where they will have a night of camp and code, pizza and camaraderie. On the Saturday afternoon they will show what they have made to an audience of their peers, Press, government and industry. Prizes are awarded and lives are changed.

After this they are automatically a part of the growing network of young developers across the UK. Lifetime friendships are born as well as businesses. Mentor relationships are forged and that child is no longer coding alone.

Alumni – One of the bi-products of YRS is the strong alumni network. Once the YRSers get to 19, they volunteer to return year on year to mentor the younger ones, helping them understand what the week is all about and welcoming them into the broader network of developers — helping them make life-changing decisions.

Sponsors and volunteers – It is all run through sponsorship and volunteers and will always be so. We always find it very hard to get corporate sponsorship, and whilst we will continue to pursue traditional sponsorship routes, we wanted to open the opportunity up to the community of people who, as individuals, would like to contribute to making this week happen. Money raised is spent on hardship funds for travel, food and subsistence. Other sponsorship will cover the greater costs of the festival and camping.”

Check out their video below and also CLICK ON THE LINK HERE to go through to their crowdfunding page…

Interested in what Young Rewired State are doing – you can check out their website here and we wish this well intentioned project all the best! Hail TheEmployable!!