Organising jeK Academy
A challenge never comes alone. Organising this event brought with it the challenge of making this 5th edition the best of all (and more)!
“So, innovation, you mean!”
Since my very first day at jeKnowledge that this word is very present in my work. After all, I’m not only a Software Developer but an Innovation Consultant as well! Still, this was my first time as a main organiser!
I can’t deny, I was excited with the ideia… But also scared! I didn’t know anything about organising something like this! I didn’t even know what I needed to know before I start!
But I was not alone, I always had great people by my side!
“I believe in innovation and that the way you get innovation is you fund research and you learn the basic facts. ”
— Bill Gates
So I started researching for all the information I could get, having my team helping me with this task.
Fortunately, my teammate Miguel found the organiser of the last edition, who’s not at jeKnowledge anymore, and scheduled a meeting with him. It was really helpful. He told us everything he could remember about organising jeK Academy, since the first steps until the days of the event, explaining all the ups and downs he went through, what helped us a lot in problem prevention.
After this, we finally had the required orientation to keep moving forward in order to archive our goals.
“The first step is to establish that something is possible; then probability will occur.”
— Elon Musk
The desire of perfection isn’t enough, so I had to do my best to make sure this event could be flawless. How could I do this other than having an active position in all the tasks, helping everyone and keeping myself always well informed about everything that was going on, step by step? Not forgetting, obviously, about trusting, motivating and always have in consideration my team members opinions! Only together we could bring this edition to a different and better level!
I also have to confess that being so active in so many kinds of tasks only made me grow and grow at countless levels!
Python Workshop
Our participants learnt the principles of Python on the first workshop, given by me, and they developed a game using Turtle.
This was another vey interesting challenge I had to face! It was the first time I had myself in that position and I didn’t know what to expect. Also, it got me worried because it was the first workshop of the event and it had to be good enough to keep our participants excited to continue!
There’s always something that you can learn and something you can teach.
— Roman Reigns
Fortunately, I have the pleasure to say that all of them revealed to be very satisfied and interested, always thirsty for learning and create more and more. It’s obvious that I gave them everything they asked for!
I was as excited as they were and at the end I just couldn’t be happier!
Our partners support were crucial
It would be really unfair not mentioning the valuable help our partners gave to us. Without extending myself too much on this topic, I just want the show my gratitude to the this incredible identities:
RedLight Software (especially to Miguel Antunes, the CEO);
FLAG (especially to Nuno Viana and Jorge Gamito);
Mixtrónica;
Universidade (the pastry);
Venus (the pastry);
Department of Mathematics of FCTUC’s bar.
Happy and proud
The happiness in our participants face only made me happier and really proud! Proud of me, proud of my amazing team and proud of all those young high-school students who attended jeKnowledge Academy, they truly were the best participants I could ask for and I’m sure they’ll have all the success they wish!
Our goals were achieved and the expectation for the next edition is to grow even more and provide even better opportunities to everyone!
Call to action
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