Microsoft YouthSpark is a global initiative for young people to study computers and prepare them to grow independently within the community. In these 4 years, Microsoft has given these opportunities to more than 300 million young people in the world. Many of those who have been able to provide change not only in their own lives but also into the lives of others and have a real impact in the community.
Since 2013, Microsoft has collaborated with Yayasan Cinta Anak Bangsa (YCAB) to hold Microsoft YouthSpark in Indonesia, YCAB itself focuses on developing and empowering young people. This program focuses on giving young people the opportunity to learn programming, as well as trying to apply their creations of ideas using game applications Kodu from Microsoft in the previous year. In 2017, Microsoft YouthSpark was held in three batches, TouchDevelop, Minecraft for Edu, and CS Unplugged.
After passing several stages of the workshop, finally Microsoft YouthSpark 2017 Yogyakarta entered the final stage of judging and determining the winner. Unlike last year where the format of the YouthSpark Exhibition and YouthSpark Live was separated, this year the two events were merged into YouthSpark Live which consisted of "Exhibition and Judging" as an exhibition for participants who became finalists of each category that will be judged by the Jury and "Forum Group Discussion" as a discussion forum between Microsoft and Yogyakarta Education Office on the realization of Yogyakarta as Cyber Province.
YouthSpark Live took place on Monday, May 15, 2017 at Wanitatama Building (Shinta Hall and Kunthi Hall) and attended by 55 teams from 250 junior high school, senior high school and vocational high school students in Yogyakarta. The event was initiated by Microsoft and collaborated with YCAB Foundation, LABC, and MIC Yogyakarta. In addition to the exhibition for the finalists of Microsoft YouthSpark 2017, there is also a Work Readiness exhibition by school representative students in Gunung Kidul on skills and behaviors required for future employment readiness such as soft skills, work skills, or job-readiness skills.
From the 55 teams that followed Microsoft YouthSpark 2017 Yogyakarta, selected 15 best teams as finalists for the Exhibition and Judging session. Below is a complete list of 15 finalists of Microsoft YouthSpark 2017 Yogyakarta: TouchDevelop is represented by SMP N 5 Depok-W3W117, SMK N 2 Sewon-AMG Teamwork, SMP N 2 Playmen-Srikandi Duplay, SMP N 2 Banguntapan-SpeDev, and SMP N 2 Patuk-Cahaya Berlian Minecraft is represented by SMK N 3 Yogyakarta-ElectriCity Team, SMK N 3 Yogyakarta-Team Tolelion, SMP N 5 Depok-Rush Block, SMP N 4 Yogyakarta-Infinity, and SMK N 3 Yogyakarta-Punokawan. CS Unplugged is represented by SMP N 2 Banguntapan-Little Programmer, SMP N 2 Banguntapan-SpeDev, SMP N 5 Depok-W3 W117, MAN LAB UIN-The A Team, and SMK N 3 Yogyakarta-Anoman.
Prior to entering the judging session, the YouthSpark Live event opened first with the Talk Show "Computer Science Development in Jogja" moderated by Ridi Ferdiana as Research Advisor from Microsoft Innovation Center Yogyakarta with speakers, namely Samuel Henry as General Manager of Telkom Jogja Digital Valley and the winner Microsoft YouthSpark 2016 Yogyakarta and
The assessment took a long time of almost 2.5 hours in which each team had 10 minutes for presentation and question-and-answer from the jury. The Best Champion will be taken from one team of each category based on the judging judgment plus the favorite champion based on the choice of the visitors. Then, who are the champions in the event Microsoft YouthSpark 2017 Yogyakarta this time?
Best Champion TouchDevelop won by SMP N 5 Depok with the name of W3W117 team that make an application for the tourists who are on vacation but lack of information about the city of Yogyakarta. This app will give you all information about Yogyakarta from culinary, tourism, lodging, and more.
The Best Minecraft Champion is achieved by SMK N 3 Yogyakarta with the ElectriCity Team team building Minecraft world that will invite players to learn about how electricity works by using Redstone blocks such as series or parallel circuits, light switches, and other electrical lessons.
Best Winner CS Unplugged won by SMP N 2 Banguntapan under the name of Little Programmer team who built the world Spark Project using Finite State Automata element by asking players to follow certain order to reach the place where there is a legendary sword to defeat dragon.
Meanwhile, Favorite Champion falls to MAN LAB UIN under CS Unplugged category. They built the world of Project Spark as a fantasy world that invites his players to a place to get a magic sword. Steps to be taken by players are presented using the 'Finite State Automata' element in which players are required to answer each quiz given at each intersection in the order of the trip.