The Noosphere Tech Intensive 2.0 summer school for teenagers from Dnipro has come to an end. For a month, participants explored technical disciplines under the guidance of experienced mentors, made new friends, and had a great time learning.
For the second year in a row, NGO “Association Noosphere”, together with the Dnipro branch of the Youth Academy of Sciences and Planetarium Noosphere, organized this summer program to give talented teens a chance to go beyond traditional school education. The project offered them the opportunity to dive into technical subjects, attend lectures and workshops from industry experts, and discover new passions. This year, the IT STEP Computer Academy also joined the initiative.
The program brought together teens aged 14 to 16. Out of all the applicants, the organizers selected 30 participants with the most inspiring motivation letters. Throughout August, they attended weekly sessions led by top professionals in their fields.
The first workshop focused on robotics. Under the guidance of Tetiana Kovalyova, Noosphere VEX Events ambassador, students learned how to assemble and program robots using VEX kits — and even played robo-basketball, trying to shoot special balls into a hoop with their creations.
The second session was dedicated to creating chatbots. Together with Pavlo Merzlykin, an associate professor at the Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at Kryvyi Rih State Pedagogical University, participants explored the possibilities of artificial intelligence and built a text-based game where the story changed based on the player’s choices.
Next came a workshop led by Andrii Svitlyi from the IT STEP Computer Academy. With his help, the teens learned how to create computer games in Construct — building game worlds, characters, and gameplay mechanics.
The fourth class introduced students to crypto-encryption. Roman Syzonenko, a senior lecturer at the Department of Cybersecurity and Computer-Integrated Technologies at Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, explained different types of ciphers. Afterward, the students had to “hack” encrypted files — and they handled the challenge brilliantly.
To wrap up the intensive, participants visited Planetarium Noosphere for an educational and fun closing event. In addition to a fascinating tour and a show in the Star Hall, the teens received certificates of participation, gifts, and — most importantly — wonderful memories and fresh inspiration for the new school year.
