Saturday 12 December 2015

Intel-CTY Engineering Graduation

Hey guys! I finally got a laptop off my wonderful uncle so I can blog more frequently now that I'm not using an iPad app with five, count 'em, five features. 

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Photo by Photographer whose name I don't know

Summary

Today, the graduation ceremony of the 2015 Intel-CTY Girls Engineering programme took place in Intel Leixlip. The twenty students on the course and approximately two relatives apiece listened to speeches from Sarah Sexton (Intel) and Colm O' Reilly (CTY Director) about the purpose of the programme and about Intel's history. 




The students then went up and got our certificates (framed!). A photographer was there, but I don't have the photos yet so I'll just put them up when I do. After that, we all got to try on the hazmat suits and had a tour of part of the campus. The final part of the day involved a great lunch that I enjoyed with Gabi and mum Mary.

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Details (and Photos!)

It wouldn't be an Elle day out if I didn't have at least one public transport disaster, and this time I got into Dublin at half eleven, went for a rushed hour of Christmas shopping and accidentally spent all my money thinking I had an extra fiver for the train to Intel. I spotted the Luas and found my way to Abbey Street, then discovered that I had no money. A preacher offered me a fiver (big shoutout to him) so I bought a Luas ticket to Connolly to make sure I wouldn't miss my train, missed the Luas by about a second and sprinted to Connolly and made the train - absolutely soaked. I walked the last bit to Intel and arrived in a location of the campus that couldn't have been further from where I was trying to go. Some lovely employees showed me the way and I snuck in the back of the room for the ceremony. Will I ever be on time? Hmm.

Here are some photos of us all trying on the hazmat suits, just on the off chance anyone ever tries to think of me as cool again.




The photographer asked to take a photo of Gabi and I taking a selfie together, which is apparently all the rage now. I completely lost all photogenicity, tragically - it comes and goes. Finally took a photo with an Instagram frame:



Going by this photo, Gabi would be a great astronaut. 


Sarah gave us a little tour after that. I'd heard some of it before on the tour Lauren and I got in August but it was cool. Gabi and I got to talk to Colm, which is always great. He said he'd been talking to Mary Carty (Irish STEM fairy godmother) and we came up through Outbox.

The event organisers put on an lovely spread of free food for us at the end, which was a great reward for all the sprinting. I had soup, a wrap, crisps, two cupcakes and Fanta so shoutout for that. Oh, and not to forget the bag of freebies we all got. 



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Thanks to everyone for the fun day, and to CTY, Intel, DCU and our teachers for putting together the course!