TCS’ ‘Ignite Innovation Student Challenge’ Enters Final Week

Tata Consultancy Services, a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, and Discovery Education, the leading provider of digital education content and professional development for K-12 classrooms announce the final week of the Ignite Innovation Student Challenge. With entries accepted through Thursday, January 17, 2019 at 8:00 p.m. ET, the competition gives young innovators an amazing chance to win $10,000 and receive virtual mentorship from a team of TCS technology experts to bring their winning idea to life.

The Ignite Innovation Student Challenge encourages sixth through eighth grade students to use computational thinking to create digital solutions that improve the world and solve problems impacting TCS’ social responsibility pillars: Our Planet, Health and Education.

Middle school students – up to four students per team – are invited to craft a digital concept and submit their entries by creating a written description or a one to two-minute video. Entries must define a problem in one of TCS’ three social responsibility pillars; explain how their answer solves a local, national, or global issue; identify the population being served; explain at least three benefits of the digital solution; identify at least two computational thinking strategies used to develop the solution; and present thinking and planning using visuals.

Submissions will be judged based on creativity, content, persuasiveness and overall presentation. Ten winners will then be selected to receive prizes including the Grand Prize of a $10,000 scholarship and virtual mentorship with TCS mentors to bring their winning idea to life. Winners of the Top Pillar prizes in Our Planet, Health and Education will receive $7,500, and six Winner Circle prizes of $1,000 will be awarded. Winners will be announced in spring 2019. All video and written description entries must be submitted online by Thursday, January 17 at www.ignitemyfutureinschool.org/Challenge.

On a national level, Ignite My Future in School has a goal of engaging 20,000 teachers and one million U.S. students by 2021. As a first step towards this objective, TCS and Discovery Education have partnered with U.S. school districts in the Washington, D.C. area, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Missouri, Michigan and Wisconsin as early adopters and launch sites of this transdisciplinary approach. Since launching, IMFIS has provided training materials valued at more than $2 million and engaged nearly 300,000 students and over 5,100 educators in all 50 states throughout 55 school districts.

To learn more about Ignite My Future in School, go to www.ignitemyfutureinschool.org.