Tag: girl

Irish Girl Guides providing community learning for empowering older adults with digital skills

To celebrate and honour the older adults in our community, Irish Girl Guide members are teaching digital skills. This past week, Leaders from 10 new Units across Ireland joined a growing cohort of Hi Digital trained Members.

In total, 30 Units are ready to work with older people on the island, which include 60 Leaders and 402 Guides (10-14 y.o.) and Senior Branch (14-30 y.o.).

Since Irish Girl Guides started the partnership with Vodafone Foundation, over 2,000 older people have learned new skills, and this number will continue to expand.

The members learned about some of the barriers older adults face in navigating the digital landscape and how they can help combat social and digital isolation through the Hi Digital programme in partnership with the Vodafone Foundation.

The Units host sessions in their community centres, in parish churches, in Men’s and Women’s Sheds and Active Retirement Groups. Hi Digital sessions last one to two hours and the older adults get a chance not only to learn new skills but also to chat over a cup of tea or a mug of soup.

Learning digital skills is not just about understanding the step-by-step instructions but building confidence and skills towards a more independent life. This is achieved through comprehensive education that demonstrates not just how singular apps work but through universal symbols and recognizable instructions while supporting the growing confidence in the older adult.

One older participant said, “I feel more at ease, knowing that much more about my phone”. While the Irish Girl Guides grow into confident Leaders, they are also helping show the older adult’s new ways to lead more independent lives as they navigate their phones. As one Clogherhead Senior Branch member highlighted, “it was really great for our personal growth but also our community growth”.

Watch this video to see the Hi Digital programme in action!

To see more about Hi Digital check out www.hidigital.ie and for more about the Irish Girl Guides go to www.irishgirlguides.ie

70 Irish Girl Guides to compete in FIRST LEGO League Challenge Regional at DCU

Excitement is growing as 14 teams from across Ireland get ready to compete in the Irish Girl Guides FIRST LEGO League Challenge Regional, taking place on Saturday 1st March at Dublin City University (DCU). This event is an important step in the season as teams compete for a chance to make it to the Ireland Final in April.

This year, a talented group of girls from 11 Guide and Senior Branch Units will showcase their skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), while testing their creativity and teamwork. The competition will include a robot game, a research project, and demonstrations of FIRST® LEGO® League Core Values.

 

The teams competing in the Regional Tournament are:

  • Deep Blue Divas – Mosney Guides (8 team members)
  • Mako Mermaids – Boherbue Guides (7 team members)
  • Merlin Dolphins – St. Nicholas & Merlin Wood Guides (4 team members)
  • The Squashed Squids – Macalla Guides (4 team members)
  • Pretty Pearls – St. Brendan’s Guides (4 team members)
  • The Gills – St. Brendan’s Guides (4 team members)
  • The Guiding I’s – St. Brendan’s Guides (3 team members)
  • The Winnie Fish – St. Brendan’s Guides (4 team members)
  • Awesome Octonauts – Dilse Senior Branch (6 team members)
  • Athlone Senior Branch – (5 team members)
  • The Octonauts – Lucan Guides (4 team members)
  • Coral Creators – North Longford Senior Branch (5 team members)
  • Super SB Sealions – Villierstown Senior Branch (5 team members)
  • Tiddles the Turtle – Lily Guides (7 team members)

 

The FIRST LEGO League Challenge encourages participants to tackle real-world problems through innovation, creativity, and critical thinking. The theme for this year’s SUBMERGED℠ Season is focused on exploring the depths of the ocean and learning how to protect our seas. Teams have been working on building robotic models, coding their designs, and preparing their research projects all about life under the water.

“Through the FIRST LEGO League Challenge, Irish Girl Guides is helping to inspire the next generation of STEM leaders,” said Katie Keogh, Irish Girl Guides LEGO Representative and the Mosney Unit Brownies and Guides Leader, “We are so proud of the hard work, creativity, and dedication these girls have shown. This event is a great chance for them to learn new skills, show off their achievements, and follow their passions in a fun, supportive environment.”

The Regional Tournament is an important part of the journey, as it determines which teams will move on to the Ireland Final. The day will be full of energy, learning, and friendly competition, with parents, Leaders, and volunteers cheering on the teams. The competition will end with a showcase where teams will present their projects and celebrate their hard work.

Supported by the Research Ireland Discover Programme, FIRST® LEGO® League is organised by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) in partnership with Irish delivery partner, CreativeHUT. 

Irish Girl Guides and Vodafone Foundation tackle digital exclusion for older adults

On the occasion of World Social Justice Day, Irish Girl Guides want to highlight that social inclusion extends to older adults, a group often overlooked in society. In a world where digital connectivity is essential, Irish Girl Guides is tackling this challenge head-on with the Hi Digital Programme in partnership with the Vodafone Foundation.

Since 2023, Irish Girl Guides has trained over 3 500 older adults across Ireland, helping them navigate the digital world with confidence and security. Through the Hi Digital Programme, 50 Irish Girl Guides Units have been trained as Digital Champions. Guides, Senior Branch members, and Leaders dedicate their time to teaching older adults how to access online services, stay connected with loved ones, and protect themselves from scams and fraud.

The programme fosters intergenerational learning, breaking down barriers and strengthening social ties between younger and older generations. This initiative takes on social exclusion by empowering older adults, reducing isolation, and providing a sense of connection in an increasingly digital world.

Jessica Woods, Leader from Cuchulain Guides Unit and Chair of the Irish Girl Guides Communications Committee, said: “Our Unit ran an event, and a Guide was able to teach a Grandmother how to record and send voice notes on WhatsApp. She ‘tested it’ by sending a message to her granddaughter in Australia. A few minutes later she received a reply and she said it was like getting a ‘virtual hug’. Hi Digital can help open the world to an older person.”

 

To have a better idea of the programme, watch these two videos:

More Vodafone news

For more information about Hi Digital, visit: Welcome to Hi Digital

Irish Countdown Begins for Virgin Orbit’s €15M Cosmic Girl Launch at National Space Centre

All of Ireland will be focused the night sky this evening for the Virgin Orbit launch of the ‘Start Me Up’ mission, but nowhere more so than at National Space Centre, which is supporting Telemetry, Tracking and Control (TT&C) groundstation services for the €15M mission.

“We are thrilled to be working with our partners Leafspace and Goonhilly to provide TT&C for this historic launch from Cornwall,” commented Rory Fitzpatrick, CEO of National Space Centre at Elfordstown EarthStation near Midleton in Cork. “Interestingly, while it will be a first for the British, it will be the third time we’ve provided ground control data for a space launch at the NSC. We’ve previously supported RocketLabs’ Electron rocket launch and we also provided groundstation services for South Korea’s recent Nuri rocket launch for Contec.” 

NSC will be hosting a livestreamed watch event from National Space Centre as staff and partners gather to watch the Virgin Orbit jumbo jet known as ‘Cosmic Girl’ climb to 35,000 before air launching its LauncherOne rocket into orbit at youtube.com/@NationalSpaceCentreIRE. The event will start 5 minutes before launch, currently scheduled for 22:15. 

LauncherOne will then release eight miniaturised satellites into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The LauncherOne mission will communicate with mission control at Spaceport Cornwall via a select network of ground stations, including one in Ireland at NSC. LauncherOne’s eight ’smallsat’ satellites, each the size of a cereal box, are being released into Low Earth Orbit for various Virgin customers.