May 3, 2010 – Mandeville, Jamaica…[Nigel Coke/WIU/IAD]
Another Information Technology team, Team Educ8, from the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) is through once again to the Microsoft Imagine Cup world final. This after defeating several teams from El Salvador, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and two other teams from NCU. The competition took place via a teleconference on April 28, 2010 at the Adventist university’s main campus in Mandeville, Jamaica.
“The administrative body of the University is proud of the products of our computer and Information Science Department,” said Dr. Herbert Thompson, president of NCU. “The fact that since 2005 we have dominated the Microsoft Imagine Cup competition for Jamaica, the Caribbean and Latin America, speaks volume that NCU is the information giant of these regions. It is also significant for Jamaica because it happens at a time when we are loosing everything else as a nation, and this University continues to keep Jamaica in the spot of prominence in the rest of the world and has given all us something to celebrate”
Team Educ8 comprising Trevoir Williams, Caray McKenzie, Warren Robinson and Trecia Thompson – the first female to be a part of the NCU Imagine Cup team – will travel to Poland to represent Jamaica and the Caribbean in the finals scheduled to take place July 3-7, 2010. The software project for Educ8 is “eSCAPE” (Electronic School Computer Aid for Primary Education), which is designed to teach literacy at the primary school level.
“I applaud all our teams who competed in the regional finals for their outstanding efforts and accomplishments,” said an elated Kenrie Hylton, Chair of the Computer and Information Science Department at NCU. “This has once again highlighted Jamaica’s potential to make a significant impact in the global information technology industry.”
In addition, Team Xormis from NCU finished second making it the first time in the competition’s history that one institution has produced the two top teams in the region – an unprecedented and momentous achievement, both for NCU and Jamaica. Legos was the other team which competed in the competition.
Hylton further added “Having two teams from Jamaica ranking first and second underscores the fact that we have extremely talented and tech savvy youngsters in Jamaica who are able to innovate and develop world class technology solutions.”
In the six year of the Microsoft Imagine Cup competition, NCU represented Jamaica in all six and the region (the world finals) on four occasions.
In 2007, the NCU Imagine Cup Team ICAD brought recognizable acclaim to NCU and the region when it was placed third in the world finals in South Korea.
The Imagine Cup, a global student technology competition, encourages individuals worldwide to apply their creativity to technology innovations that provide solutions to real world issues.
