Meet St Pat’s Olympiads

Four winners from the All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad (AILO) will go on to represent Ireland at the International Linguistics Olympiad in July.

Two students from St Patrick’s College Cavan competed at the national finals of the All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad (AILO) in Dublin City University (DCU) last Wednesday, March 9. Run by ADAPT, a world-leading SFI Research Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology, the contest challenges secondary school students to apply logic and reasoning skills to solve complex puzzles in unfamiliar languages.

The 100 national finalists, from 44 schools across 18 counties, have come through preliminary rounds held in schools all over the island in January. More than 3,000 students registered for this year’s contest. Competing in individual and team rounds, the finalists are faced with anything from deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics to interpreting ancient Mayan poetry to decoding numerical spy codes.

The AILO finals see teenagers solve puzzles that require lateral thinking skills and the ability to think outside the box. Students must analyse the data they are given to work out the ‘rules’ of the new language. These transferable skills are critical in preparing young people for careers in computing, linguistics and language.

Four winners from the final will go on to represent Ireland at the International Linguistics Olympiad held on the Isle of Man in July.

The results of the National Final will be released later this week.

Sample puzzles from the Olympiad can be downloaded at https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie/sample-puzzles/