TCS goIT Challenges at TCS-Sponsored Marathons Encourage Students To Develop Apps Focused on Gender Equality in Sports

The 2024 goIT Student Challenges at the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon and the TCS New York City Marathon encouraged students to design concepts for apps that address gender equality and universal availability of sports opportunities. On the Friday before each marathon, teams of K-12 students presented their digital innovations and business plans, demonstrating how their ideas would create new pathways for all student athletes.

At the goIT Student Challenge in Toronto, five 6^th grade students from McMurrich Junior Public School won with their app pitch “Proud Sports,” supporting rights, access and equality for all athletes. Along with three other teams, Marley, George, Elena, Paris and Yishai pitched their ideas to judges from the University of Toronto, the Toronto District School Board, TCS, and members of the Toronto business community. They were selected as the competition’s top innovators among almost 90 student entrants.

In New York City, a team of 7^th and 8^th grade students from John Adams Middle School in Edison, New Jersey, won the challenge with their pitch for “Equitiger.” They presented an app designed to match youth athletes with sports teams that align with their individual talents and interests. Their innovation was one of seven featured at the event judged by TCS Team Teachers ambassador and member of the Brooks Running Team, Susanna Sullivan, and Kelly Perez, head of Diversity, Equity and Social Responsibility for New York Road Runners, along with special guests from TCS’ global Sports Sponsorship team and Tata International, Ltd.

The events, and the global goIT Monthly Challenge for November, sought to engage youth in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Gender Equality.

To learn more about goIT, visit https://tcsempowers.tcsapps.com/amer/goIT. To learn more about TCS’ marathon sponsorships in North America, visit https://www.tcs.com/who-we-are/sports-sponsorships/running.

About TCS goIT Digital Innovation and Career Readiness Program 

TCS’ Go Innovate Together program (goIT) is TCS’ flagship STEM education program. Focusing on digital innovation and career readiness, goIT engages students from diverse backgrounds with Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) subjects and computer science, design thinking and digital innovation. The program offers an industry-developed, customizable curriculum that teaches students the 21^st century skills necessary for a career in technology. Lessons cover topics including design thinking, rapid prototyping, artificial intelligence, machine learning and more.

Since the launch of the goIT Monthly Challenge in 2020, thousands of students across the globe have used key principles from goIT to design tech-based solutions and submit pitch videos based on a Monthly Challenge theme. Each month, TCS co-hosts the event with a Sustainable Development Goal ambassador, globally minded nonprofit or a TCS client. The Challenge has engaged a growing number of teachers and students every month, exploring topics ranging from gender equality and systemic racism to protecting life under water.

Visit the goIT Monthly Challenge competition website to learn how to enter — or get your students involved — with this or upcoming challenges: https://on.tcs.com/goIT-ENG. 

About Tata Consultancy Services(TCS)

Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that has been partnering with many of the world’s largest businesses in their transformation journeys for over 56 years. Its consulting-led, cognitive powered, portfolio of business, technology and engineering services and solutions is delivered through its unique Location Independent Agile™ delivery model, recognized as a benchmark of excellence in software development.

A part of the Tata group, India's largest multinational business group, TCS has over 612,700 of the world’s best-trained consultants in 55 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $29 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, and is listed on the BSE and the NSE in India. TCS' proactive stance on climate change and award-winning work with communities across the world have earned it a place in leading sustainability indices such as the MSCI Global Sustainability Index and the FTSE4Good Emerging Index. For more information, visit www.tcs.com

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