By Alice Jenkins, Year 10 Journalist Leader

On Friday March 12th, five Year 10 girls attended the GDST Techathon, at The Crystal in Central London.

The theme of the day was ‘smart cities,’ meaning that each group had to come up with one idea which they would like to see implemented to make a city ‘smart.’

We were paired with Sheffield Girls School, and our idea was a ‘smart pavements’ initiative. The hope was that people with mobility issues would find it easier to navigate busy streets. Footpaths would be expanded and split up into lanes, so that people could travel at their own pace. The size and direction of these lanes would be adjusted based on the number of people on the streets. To avoid congestion as a result of people reading maps while walking, we would also have an augmented reality system that planned the quickest route for people to take, and would display these on special glasses.

Towards the end of the day, we pitched the idea to the judges. Although we did not win, it was a very rewarding experience. Lara Glenn, who attended, said that she ‘enjoyed collaborating with other GDST schools, and improved [her] pitching skills.’ We also had several inspiring talks from GDST alumnae and, at the very end of the day, a panel discussion on smart cities.

It was a great experience: I learnt so much about the many ways we can use technology to improve our lives. A big thank you to Mr Khan for taking us!

Photo shared with permission from our Sheffield colleagues!