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By Joseph Thomas
Success takes time to show itself. Time and patience. For two months, Bangalore MADsters and the children from St Mary’s Boys Home worked along with some volunteers from Intel to set up the perfect ‘Computer Project’ – an idea straight out of MAD’s Innovation iHub (which is an active platform to implement great ideas, in order to serve more children).
Boys showing off their skills!
Scratch is a programming language that enables anybody and everybody to create interactive stories, animations, games, music and art and share them on the web. As a part of the Computer Project our kids worked with Scratch, learning important mathematical and computational ideas, and the ability to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.
The first of many certificates!
After spending months sourcing and planning, the MAD+Intel team took the project to the kids. They were met with a wildly enthusiastic response and just two months later, the children were presenting the authorities with the fruits of their labour. Their Scratch programs were ready, and were a much better and more fun alternative to the ubiquitous computer programming.
To make this all the more memorable, a mini graduation ceremony was held for the kids (complete with a speech from our MADster Naveen :P), where they were awarded certificates of appreciation by their proud teachers. No graduation ceremony is complete without a tearjerker and at this one, it was the Principal’s heart-felt expression of gratitude towards MAD and the volunteers for actively shaping the lives of the children and providing them with the best education and activities available that got everyone misty-eyed.
The Graduating Class!
Well, this is just the beginning. There is a long, long way to go. Till then, we’ll be Scratch-ing!
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Shrutiambast
