ISSY N, YEAR 10

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The trip to Disneyland Paris was a three-day event that was educational, yet wildly entertaining, filled with both hard work and (of course) tonnes of rides and rollercoasters!

One of the more interesting events of the trip was the ‘Computing Live!’ conference, which we attended on the Monday morning from 9:15 until 11:45AM, hosted by award winning radio and television presenter, Remel London.  Along with many other schools, we were spoken to by three big names in the tech, coding and journalism industry.

Christina Criddle was the first speaker of the morning, a talented journalist for the Financial Times, who spoke to us about social media, journalism in the tech industry, and some of the dangers of the internet from her own personal experience, as well as introducing us to her cat’s TikTok account!

Afterwards, 20-year-old speaker, activist and social entrepreneur Joanna Baptista graced the stage, giving us all an engaging and informative talk on her experience in the industry. Baptista had a great passion for Computer Science at a young age, taking part in many competitions and camps to hone her skill and pique her interest in her early teens.

Finally, Ben Byford, an Artificial Intelligence consultant and game developer with his company Nuclear Candy, gave the last talk. He told us about the future of AI, gaming and his experiences with coding and making video games whilst adding on to other points made by the two previous speakers. 

We ended around midday, with a Q&A, before being allowed access to the two parks until around 9pm. One of the most technically astounding of the rides was the Ratatouille experience: a 3D immersive event, putting you in the shoes of one of the rats in Remi’s kitchen. We ended the day with a few of us watching the fireworks and light show at the Disney Castle, a wonderful display of not only the history of Disney, but how far technology has come over the past few years.