IT Students Enchanted at Disneyland Paris

Students from Riverside College and Cronton Sixth Form experienced the magic of Disney when they attended the Computing LIVE! event at Disneyland Paris earlier this month. As well as the inspirational conference, the daring students also had the opportunity to experience the breath-taking rides at the famous theme park.

Computing Live! is an annual event which aims to bring Computing and IT studies to life through talks from high profile industry speakers, examples of successful case studies and also provides information on the many different career pathways IT students can progress to.

The 2019 event was hosted by BBC Click presenter Kate Russel who introduced guest speakers including Rik Ferguson, from cyber security company Trend Micro. Rik discussed topics including the threats of organised cybercrime, potential future cyber security threats and the variety of careers within Cyber Security.

The students also enjoyed a fascinating talk from Tom Nelson who works at The Walt Disney Company. Tom gave an insight into developing a website for major companies such as Disney and discussed the work that goes into maintaining it.

Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, co-founder of Stemettes, also delivered a passionate presentation on “A Code Load of Possibility” which demonstrated the future of computing and equality in the industry.

Following the event, the students were able to visit the theme park and enjoy some of the local culture the city of Paris had to offer.

One student who took part in the trip said, “I enjoyed the whole experience. There were lots of great moments, especially Tom’s talk on e-commerce and website development. The rides afterwards were also really fun.”

Ryan Turner, Computing and IT Tutor at Riverside College and Cronton Sixth Form said, “The conference really helped to inspire the students and demonstrated how the skills they have developed on their course can be applied in so many different jobs, even jobs that don’t yet exist!”