National Scratch Competition Final

I entered the National Scratch competition back in March. The competition is based on creating a project using the website Scratch, a block based visual programming site to turn your ideas into life. The only rule was to create a project to your wildest imagination. I have had previous experience using the website to create games in the past but this time round it was different. I had to make something bigger than I had ever done before.

Rewinding back a couple of months, I found the competition online and it caught my eye. I then worked on it, coming up with the idea of ‘The Unknown Tourist Attractions’. The project is about the lesser known attractions on the Isle of Ireland, the forgotten and uncharted places that don’t receive the recognition they deserve. We always tend to look abroad as faraway hills are greener but what lies on our natives shores is a beauty to be discovered. The project documents some of these places showing pictures and information about the specific destinations. Most importantly it puts these unknown tourist attractions on the map.

The project involved drawing images digitally and putting code together. Its quite a tedious process. One split second you see could take an hour to complete and if one block of code is incorrect it could ruin the whole project. After 100’s of blocks of code later the project was complete.

I enjoyed the problem solving aspect as you might not know how to make a certain thing work but there is always a solution. What I learnt is that we don’t realise and envisage the potential the internet holds in connecting the world and how we can be a part of that.

I am lucky enough to become a finalist in the competition where I present my project to judges in UL on Wednesday 18th.

Claire Foyle 4.1

We wish Claire every success on Wednesday.