Silicon Valley, USA —The Silicon Valley is the hub for all technical things that touch the surface of the earth. The latest news from there is that a group of four young and incredibly intelligent teenage girls. They have recently reached its doors with a unique mobile application that is catered to helping prevent fire. In a competition with over 19,000 teenage girls as participants, these 4 Palestinian teens have won their competition among. They have won a slot to be able to pitch their app to some of the top leaders of the Silicon Valley in order to make this an actual viable commercial app.
These girls are 17-year-old 11th graders who have NEVER even stepped into an airplane to date. This opportunity is one of the biggest breaks that they can hope to get. Coming from a strict and orthodox Israeli-Palestinian patriarchal background, it is easy to see that this one step can mean a lot to their future.
Wasan al-Sayed, who is 17, says, “ We are excited to travel in a plane for the first time in our lives, meet new people and see a new world. We are excited to be in the most prestigious IT community in the world, Silicon Valley, where we can meet interesting people and see how the new world works.”
The challenge had multiple levels. The name of this competition was “Technovation Challenge” which was held in San Jose, California. The specific aim of the competition was to present practical mobile applications that could help in solving problems and address goals.
The organizers set the scholarship amount at $15,000, and these intelligent kids competed against participants from:
- Egypt,
- the United States,
- Mexico,
- India,
- Spain
This competition has been run for about 9 years. The name of the global nonprofit organization that runs it is called Iridescent. They claim that their basic aim is to be able to use technology for the upliftment of the youth, especially girls. They state that approximately 60% of the U.S based participants are able to register themselves with Computer-based courses after they participate in this competition.
About 30% of this lot ends up doing majors in the same field in the following years which is well above the national average for females. Over two-thirds of international participants develop a strong interest in technology courses and studies after the competition.
Sabri Saidam, the Palestinian Education Minister, is very keen on supporting his country through technology. A close source confirms that he firmly believes education is the best path to lasting success.
He lays great emphasis on vocational training that can help people learn something of actual practical and professional value.
The four young Palestinian teens al-Sayed, Zubaida al-Sadder, Masa Halawa, and Tamara Awaisa are making Techno. Cation a big deal as they present their app to Silicon Valley leaders, showcasing their talent and innovation. They claim that their future is now much more stable. They are sure to pursue technology in their higher studies. Believe that they will have many other apps in the future.
How the Palestinian teens came to know about the competition?
The teens were quite intelligent and always proactive in everything they did. Noticing their potential, an IT teacher at their school informed them about a competition.
They belong to a very middle class set up where IT is not very accessible. They have classes only two times a week and a classful of students have access to only 2 computers.
Understanding their potential, the families of these girls had equipped them with laptops for self-study. Yamma Shaka is a mentor that the competition had allotted to these girls. Under his guidance, these girls came up with this unique idea which helped them win this slot. Shaka says that these Palestinian teens “did everything by themselves, with very few resources”.
The world needs more and more youngsters conquering the tech front. The world hopes many other competitions like Technovation will open new doors of opportunity for the people.