On Monday 28 January, thirty-five students from Presentation College spent two hours working through five complex puzzles involving unknown languages in a bid to get to the final of the competition in Dublin in March. This is the second year that students from Presentation College have entered this prestigious competition. The competition hones students’ problem-solving skills and fosters the next generation of multilingual technology specialists for Ireland. A 2016 survey showed that ninety-five percent of participants consider AILO to have enhanced their problem-solving ability. Many past participants have gone on to pursue careers in Computer Science, Maths and Linguistics (or a combination thereof) at third level.

AILO sharpens student’s problem-solving skills. This will be of benefit whatever career path one takes, but it will be particularly useful for careers in computing, linguistics, languages, engineering, maths or science or – better still – a combination of these disciplines. Job prospects in these areas are among the strongest of all industries. Participating in AILO is an excellent extra-curricular experience to add to your CV or university application form. It shows that one has a logical mind and an ability to think outside the box.

Should students wish to practice for next year, more information can be found by speaking to Ms. U. Byrne or looking up: https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie