As the end of 2016 approaches, it is hard to believe that we are midway through the second year of The Ada Lovelace Initiative! The first half of the school year has been a great success for A.L.I. Verify has been bustling with visit preparations and new schools and role models are signing up across Ireland.

With the help of our technology role models, The Ada Lovelace Initiative has reached thousands of students across the country with free technology talks since our return for the new school year in September 2016. There are many more schools booked in for 2017 and we can’t wait to get A.L.I. back on the road after the Christmas break!

Our last week before breaking for Christmas has been super busy for The Ada Lovelace Initiative as we aim to reach as many schools as possible before the festive season.

Rhona Togher, CEO of Restored Hearing with the T.Y students of Coláiste Ráithín

Last week, Rhona Togher who is the Co-Founder and CEO of Restored Hearing had a fantastic time visiting Coláiste Ráithín in Bray Co. Wicklow. This is the first time an A.L.I visitor has hosted a talk in an Irish speaking secondary school and we hope to establish the Ada Lovelace Initiative in more Irish language schools in the New Year.

The A.L.I team went along to Rhona’s inspiring talk and we had the opportunity to hear all about how she set up her own business at the age of sixteen. Rhona’s story began when she entered the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition in Transition Year and went on to transform her project idea for an invention into a reality. The students of Coláiste Ráithín were amazed by Rhona’s career story and the talk certainly sparked an interest for students to enter the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition next year.

This week, Christina Lynch of Microsoft kicked off the A.L.I. visits with her talk in Rosemont School in Sandyford.It was Christina’s first time visiting a school as part of the The Ada Lovelace Initiative and she greatly enjoyed her experience in Rosemont School.

Louise Bernstein, a returning A.L.I. role model and #TechTeamTour participant helped A.L.I. to reach more students by visiting Muckross Park College in Donnybrook.

Louise Glavey of IBM and the students of Salerno Secondary School in Co. Galway

Our last visit this week marked the end of the 2016 school year! Galway-based role model Louise Glavey travelled to Salerno Secondary School in Co. Galway to speak to the students about her career story in IBM. Louise really enjoyed sharing her story with the Transition Year students there.

Next week the role models of The Ada Lovelace Initiative will be temporarily off duty as students and parents alike will be enjoying the Christmas holidays. As soon as the students return after the break however, the Ada Lovelace Initiative will be on the road again!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank every role model, school, student, parent and supporter who helped to make A.L.I. such a success in 2016. Without your support, students nationwide wouldn’t have the opportunity to receive direct career advice from the inspirational women of Ireland’s technology industry. Happy Christmas everyone and we hope Santa is very good to you this year! 

Stay tuned for more A.L.I in Action news after the holidays. If you would like to learn more about The Ada Lovelace Initiative, please visit our A.L.I page. We are looking for role models from every county, if you would like more information about visiting a school on our waiting list, please fill out our form here and we will be in touch shortly. On Twitter? Follow @VerifyCommunity for more community updates and tag us with #alimystory. Follow our school visits on Instagram @a.l.i_mystory