Congratulations to Ciara Clerkin who won the 4th to 6th year category of the National Final of Scratch 2022 organised by the Irish Computer Society (ICS) which took place on Wednesday 18th May in the Computer Science Building of the University of Limerick.
Scratch is a visual programming language that encourages the development of essential coding skills through fun and interactive learning. It challenges students to create stories, games and animations using software. It encourages innovation and creativity while giving them a taste of possible future careers in the growing IT sector. Ciara made an educational game called Lieutenant Leek. This is a game that can be used by teachers and parents when trying to encourage healthy eating from the food pyramid with children. You play as Lieutenant Leek, a leek whose goal is to reach the top of the food pyramid to put a stop to the sugary foes wreaking havoc across the food pyramid. Each level is based on each stage of the food pyramid, which Leek needs to collect the daily requirements for. Sugar cubes block his path, he must knock them off the stage by shooting tomatoes at them to proceed!
Ciara was delighted with her win, “I plan to go to college next year to study computing and games development so I would like to express my gratitude to the The Irish Computer Society and Lero for running and sponsoring this competition because it has further inspired me to keep studying in the last few weeks of 6th Year towards my goal and it has encouraged me to make more games!”.
Ciara was interviewed by two Scratch judges about her project, and she had to be prepared to answer questions about her game. Ciara’s game generated great interest from other students at the competition and she had queues waiting to play it on the day which would have impressed the judges too! Congratulations Ciara, this was a remarkable achievement, and we wish you the best of luck as you prepare for your Leaving Cert exams in a few weeks’ time.
