In May, STEM Ambassadors supported five teams from West Yorkshire to reach the national stage of the Raspberry Pi Coolest Projects competition.
Young people from schools across the region had been meeting every Saturday at WomenZone in Bradford to share ideas, build skills and develop their projects. Despite the late timing, the quality of their work earned every team a place in the competition.
The experience highlighted just how quickly children as young as seven could learn programming, microcontrollers and problem-solving when given the right support, tools and freedom to experiment. Through free clubs and affordable component kits, the initiative helped young people build their own home labs and continue learning beyond the sessions.
It was a powerful example of what can happen when young people are trusted to lead, explore and create.
