Life Changing Experiences For South Auckland Youth

For immediate release

Monday, 2 August 2010, 1pm

Life Changing Experiences For South Auckland Youth

A team of young Kiwis will return home from a global digital technology summit for youth in Boston on Tuesday morning.

“Attending and participating in the Intel Global Teen Summit has been a life changing experience and a dream come true.  I've developed new technology skills and at the same time developed as a person”, reports Veisinia Peteli a 15-year-old school student from Otara.

Veisinia is one of six young New Zealand ambassadors sponsored by the Intel Computer Clubhouse Network to attend the week-long digital summit, Mobilize, Act, Inspire!

Over 300 young people from around the globe have been working alongside computer scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Museum of Science, and world-leading industry mentors on 3D engineering, graphic design and animation projects

Nathaniel Tohovaka a fellow student from Manakau City says he will take the knowledge he has learned at Teen Summit and “teach all of my friends back in Otara.”

Mike Usmar, CEO of Computer Clubhouse NZ says that the most powerful aspect of the Teen Summit is seeing young people doing exactly what Nathaniel aims to do when he gets back to school. “Experience has shown us that being part of a modern broadband digital economy is so much about how we swap and share knowledge collectively –- when this occurs with people, you create strong social connections in the real world, and then we see greater productivity in the use of modern technology”

 “We’ve had “experts” saying over the last few days here in New Zealand, that computers are “bad for kids.” I would agree with this if computers were just used as entertainment devices. But this is a very narrow view of the potential that modern technology now brings. “Our approach at the Computer Clubhouse not only helps young people become highly fluent in the use of digital technology, it also connects young people to national and global digital communities in a deliberate and safe environment”

Sayna Hemopo, 17, from the newly opened Computer Clubhouse in Hamilton, also attended the Teen Summit said “I worked on creative computer projects with new friends from heaps of different cultures from around the world”

School friends, families and Computer Clubhouse NZ community supporters from Auckland and Hamilton will welcome the Teen Summit team back at Auckland International on Tuesday 3rd August at 8am.
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