Last week, a robotics competition and award ceremony marked the conclusion of the six-week Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC), which was launched for the first time in Jordan by Samsung Levant at King’s Academy.

Samsung Innovation Campus is an information, communication and technology (ICT) education initiative offered globally by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the South Korean multinational electronics corporation and one of the world's largest technology companies.

During the course of the program, software engineers from Samsung Levant’s Research and Development Center provided training and mentoring to 26 King’s Academy students to develop their skills in coding, programming and robotics. 

Students, whose skill levels at the start of the program ranged from beginner to more advanced, were given bespoke training to develop their core competencies in Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), coding and programming, in addition to a range of soft skills to enhance their employment prospects and to help them gain practical education in technologies.

To demonstrate the skills students gained over the course of the semester, an “Escape the Maze” robotics competition was held on December 5. Students formed teams to compete in the final competition, where robots they built and programmed were pitted against each other in a race to escape the maze in the shortest amount of time.  

On December 7, students, parents, faculty, and Samsung mentors and representatives gathered at King’s Academy for the closing ceremony at which students were awarded diplomas for their successful completion of the program. 

Welcoming attendees to the ceremony, Head of School Peter Nilsson said: “In the spirit of this collaboration, let’s think of Samsung and King’s Academy. Let’s think about an organization that is leading in technology innovation and an educational institution that is pushing boundaries and setting the charge and setting the standard. What happens when these two organizations work together to create extraordinary learning experiences for students?”

“Our students as part of this innovation challenge were working in teams to solve a problem using technology, to build something and do something they haven’t done before,” continued Nilsson. “This is a collaborative experience, this is an innovative experience, this is an experience that characterizes what 21^st century skills and learning looks like.”

Addressing students at the award ceremony, President of Samsung Levant Hendrick Lee said: “We are now at the end of this six-week course through which we wanted to give you a good overview of coding and programming, collaboration and technology skills. I asked you all at the start if you wanted to be software engineers in the future, and you all answered yes. I hope that if you were unclear before about your future working with coding and programming, you are now convinced of it.”