Guyanese girl, teammates aim at Microsoft ‘Imagine Cup’ glory

Jun 26, 2011 News

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… heading to Finals in NY

By Crystal Conway

Father’s Day may have passed us by, but for some the gifts never stop. Forty-nine year-old father of three, Jack Farley, is one such lucky man.
A photographer by profession, Mr. Farley also operates a souvenir shop in the City Mall and for this humble man, hard work and faith has been the order of the day. Through his diligence over the years, Mr. Farley has been able to support his family, educate his children and give them the best opportunities for success that he can.
And in a feat that most parents hope and pray that they can manage themselves, he has passed on these qualities to his children. Enter 21-year-old Jasmine, a young Guyanese woman and Mr. Farley’s eldest daughter.
Four years ago after completing her secondary education at The Bishops’ High School, Jasmine secured a place for herself at the University of the Southern Caribbean (USC) at Maracas, Trinidad. Under a scholarship, she has been steadily pursuing her Bachelor of Science Degree in (Computing) Software Emphasis.
But even more impressive than her sustained record of academic excellence is the fact that young Jasmine is the lone female member of the Trinidad and Tobago contingent that will be participating in the Microsoft ‘Imagine Cup’ technology competition.
The competition is eight years old and is open to technology students across the globe. The intent is that the participants conceptualize a unique presentation that would solve real world problems.
Jasmine related in an interview to a Trinidadian Magazine earlier this month, “In 2009, the Jamaican group who had placed third at the competition visited us and their experiences really inspired me to dream big and make a difference.”
Farley and her teammates, 23-year-old Raees Rahim and 21-year-old Donald Lee Modeste Jr., selected education as their focus and chose to apply their majors by incorporating software solutions in their answer to the problem. The objectives of their project are to introduce user-friendly solutions for children and their parents, and improve motivation within children when using the various programmes.
Being very in tune with the needs of their fellow students, they created EduVaTec, which is an SMS web and desktop application, to help increase positive student performance by closing the communication gap between students, parents and teachers.
“Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems”, this is the theme for this year’s Imagine Cup competition.
The ‘Imagine Cup’ is the world’s premier student technology competition which has been held annually since its 2003 inauguration. It is often called the “Olympics of Technology”, sponsored and hosted by the Microsoft Corporation. It provides an opportunity for students to use their creativity, passion and knowledge of technology to help solve global challenges and make a difference in the world. In an attempt to ensure the competitors solve real world problems, the participants are all guided by the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals which encompass education, health, environment and the reduction or elimination of poverty.
The Imagine Cup 2011 consists of five competitions: Software Design, Game Design, Embedded Development, Digital Media and Windows Phone 7. In addition, participants may also compete in four challenges, including: Orchard, IT, and Interoperability and Windows 7 Touch.
Jasmine and her team mates will be participating in Software Design.
“The team has gone through the entire software development process ourselves, from coming up with the idea, planning the development lifecycle of the software, developing and designing the software application, to even coming up with a marketing strategy to ensure the application is business viable, and putting together a mind blowing presentation to convince the judges that this is the best solution,” they asserted.
Calling themselves Team CODEC, their name was explained by the team. In traditional software/IT terms, a codec is a piece of software that converts data into a usable form. For example a codec converts an .mp3 file from 1s and 0s into the music you hear. The team said, “We see ourselves as a CODEC in a world filled with problems, we take the problems in and put out the solutions that people can use.”
The local and regional leg of the competitions took place on May 16 of this year and the final leg will be held from July 8 to 13 in New York, USA, where 66 countries will be participating. Despite their current success, however, the team is no stranger to failure and they believe that is part of the reason that they have done well and will continue to do so this year. Having participated in the 2010 competition and not faring as well as they would have liked to, the team went back to the drawing board and used the lessons they learnt in 2010 to propel them to the heights they have now achieved.
Team CODEC is the only team competing from Trinidad and Tobago and indeed the region, and in true West Indian style the team mates are from Trinidad, Guyana and Grenada, so they are truly representative of the entire region.
From the team write-up of their participatory effort, it was noted that the core service of their software application is to enhance the motivation and communication level of the three (3) major stakeholders involved in the education process: teachers, parents and students.
With teachers having the support of parents and well-motivated students, they will themselves be motivated to help students achieve their educational goals. With parents being coached by teachers at the comfort of their own time and children willing to achieve, parents will be motivated to guide students toward their educational goals. With Students being coached by parents and given incentives to achieve, they will be motivated to reach their educational goals. The solution only needs to cater to these needs without adding much overhead, and cost to these end users.
EduVaTec will facilitate better communication
between the teachers and parents as it relates to the students. Today’s parents are very busy, and hardly have time to attend PTA meetings or visit their child’s teacher. So, they are often the last ones to know when something is wrong with their child, whether it be based on his behaviour or academic performance.
Utilizing SMS technology, and an intuitive web and desktop based application Team CODEC aims to break this information gap, and enable “fast, easy, and effective communication” between parents and teachers about students’ performances. Early detection of problems in students as well as behaviour trending in students will allow parents and teachers alike to find solutions for the students before it is too late, while students will have the tools to help them in the right direction.
Considering that this team represents not only Guyana in part but the entire Caribbean region, perhaps you would like to find out how you can support their efforts or keep abreast of their progress.
The People’s Choice Award is another category of competition in the Imagine Cup. It is the only category where the world gets to “like” video entries that they think show the best solution to the world’s toughest problems.
“This is our team’s chance to shine, and this is the best way our compatriots of the Caribbean can show their support for us. We can’t win this award without their help and we are urging them to visit the link: www.imaginecup.com/pca and vote for Team CODEC’s video on EduVaTec. Voting begins on June 20.”
And to show support, give feedback or advice, and keep up to date with progress in the competition: http://www.facebook.com/TeamCodec.
Before we go, we talk to Mr. Farley one more time. He points out that he and his family are very proud of what Jasmine has achieved.
He says that this is a big plus for her and he’s sure that she’ll go far in the years ahead because she’s always aimed high, regardless of what her endeavour may be. That being said, we wish Jasmine Farley and her team mates luck and we remind you to see what the team has to offer at the addresses given and if you find that you like it, then support them.

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