Press Office

Calico Challenge 2019 student participant Matthew Paterson and Tevon Davis presents their work on the Insite and Insite-API Open Source projects.

We are proud to have been featured as part of the Jamaica Diaspora Conference coverage by the Jamaica Information Service.

Correction: The Palisadoes Foundation is only affiliated with the Jamaica Diaspora Taskforce. Peter Harrison is not the head as stated in the podcast.

Santa Clara, California: June 24, 2019 – The GraceKennedy Foundation announces its part sponsorship of the Palisadoes Foundation’s fourth annual Calico Challenge. This step furthers the GraceKennedy mission of enhancing the well-being of Jamaicans through educational opportunities. In addition, this commitment celebrates the successful collaboration between GraceKennedy, the Jamaica Computing Society, the Palisadoes Foundation, the UWI Computing Society and the University of Technology IEEE Student Branch.

The Calico Challenge is a summer work study program for computer science students in Jamaica. Each selected student works on enhancing open source software used internationally under the guidance of a Jamaican mentor. Participating students receive US$1,500 for their successful progress. This stipend is incrementally paid based upon the achievement of specified milestones. Calico is also a feeder program for the similar Google Summer of Code.

The GraceKennedy Foundation’s contribution was used to both fund student stipends and special awards to be announced.

“This emphasizes how Jamaican organizations are taking new approaches to advancing technical education. GraceKennedy’s endorsement of the Calico Challenge will help augment an already strong talent base by helping students transition to the working world for Jamaica’s benefit,” said Peter Harrison, President of the Palisadoes Foundation, “We are proud that GraceKennedy
is willing to expose young Jamaicans to the rapid software development cycles and large scale collaboration that Jamaica needs to both compete and flourish.”

More information can be found on the Palisadoes Foundation website: http://www.palisadoes.org

About the Calico Challenge
Calico was conceived by The Palisadoes Foundation in conjunction with the Jamaica Diaspora Technology Task Force. There has been close technical collaboration between the Foundation; the University of the West Indies (UWI) Department of Computing, Mona; the UWI Computing Society; and the University of Technology IEEE Students Branch to identify open source projects, student sub-projects and mentors.

About the GraceKennedy Foundation
The GraceKennedy Foundation aims to have a positive impact on the quality of people’s lives by actively promoting well-being, primarily by supporting educational and environmental programmes and processes.

The GraceKennedy Group is one of the Caribbean’s largest diversified conglomerates. It comprises a varied network of some 60 subsidiaries and associated companies located across the Caribbean; North and Central America; and the United Kingdom. Their operations span the food distribution, financial, insurance, remittance, hardware retailing and food-processing industries.

About the Palisadoes Foundation
The California-based Palisadoes Foundation aims to provide new avenues of promoting Jamaica’s technology businesses and talent by using a series of programs which create increased awareness of the island’s abilities in the global marketplace.

About the University of Technology IEEE Student Branch
Like the IEEE, the branch’s core purpose is to foster technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. It is the first IEEE student branch to be registered in Jamaica and meets regularly to develop the young minds that will create a better Jamaica.

About the UWI Computing Society
The vision for this society is to become a launching pad for the development and exposure of the computing students of the University of the West Indies, with particular focus on undergraduate students. This Society is also envisioned to be a medium by which the university population and the wider society may become more computer literate as well as educated in the efficient use of ICT in the industry and the wider society.

About the Jamaica Diaspora Technology Task Force
The Jamaica Diaspora Technology Task Force is a group of expatriate Jamaicans interested in assisting in the continued development of new and existing technologies in Jamaica. It is a member of the Jamaica Diaspora Movement

Today we feature Rachelle Trotman one of our 2019 Calico Challenge participants.  Rachelle is from Barbados and is participating this year through our international partner Automattic.

My name is Rachelle Trotman and I am from one of the most beautiful Caribbean islands surrounded by golden sands and crystal blue waters. This island is Barbados. While my life in the gem of the Caribbean Sea has been nothing short of amazing, I chose to leave to pursue a degree in Computer Science at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus, Jamaica.

I live in code; coding computer programs has been a way of expressing myself. It is satisfying to be able to command a program to do what I want it to do using languages such as python, java and c, just to name a few. There is much zest in knowing that I can use something I am passionate about to solve a problem or fulfill a societal need.

Most areas of Computer Science intrigue me but my top three areas are Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Language Processors. Soon, I hope to pursue a master’s degree in Computer Science in Europe. My goal is to have a successful career in computing and in doing so, I hope to use all the skills I would have garnered to impact lives regionally and internationally, through both charitable organizations and my substantive career.

I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to be a participant in the Calico Challenge 2019, specifically with Automattic. I look forward to everything it has to offer.

Today we feature Tevon Davis one of our 2019 Calico Challenge participants.

My name is Tevon Davis a young web developer from Spanish Town, St Catherine pursuing his computer science degree. I began coding in late 2014 before I was a graphic designer which transitions to what I mostly dabble in when coding as a hobby which along side reading are two of my favourite past times.

My interests include data visualization, WebGl, Web assembly, Progressive Web Apps, Graphql and Micro-services as of current or just all things web related. I believe that the web is the most accessible and open platform for software to be delivered to end users and I’m always looking out for the next best thing in the browser or web community.

I’ve only recently been involved in the open source community as a developer, from what I’ve experienced there are a lot of amazing software that we really on everyday powered by open-source communities, working with open-source gives us all a chance to grow even further and be apart of something great and rewarding whatever your field from AI to AR, as such I’m grateful to the Palisadoes Foundation for providing me and many other young Jamaicans with a gateway to the world open-source. If your reading this early 2020 be sure to apply.