Recently the Year 10s and Year 11s in Newstead Wood School doing GSCE computing went on a trip to Silicon Valley to fuel their interest in the field of IT and engineering. 

This trip not only gave us a chance to bond with close friends and learn to be independent in another country but it also gave me an insight into the world of computing and the science behind it. We went to many places in and around San Francisco during a period of seven days. One of these places was Stanford University located close to the south of San Francisco. There we had the chance to be given a tour of the university by one of Stanford's very own students and we quickly learned that many Newstead students had plans to go there. Stanford's proximity to Silicon Valley also had many of us extremely interested.

Another place we visited was the Intel Museum where we learned of how Intel started from something so small to one of the most recognized CPUs today. The most interesting fact about intel was that it was always inclusive right from when it was founded in 1968, it employed women and people from all races and backgrounds and I think this should be widely recognized. 

Other places we went to included the California Academy of Science, The Tech Museum of Innovation and the Exploratorium in which we could further our knowledge of computing, science and certain aspects of the modern world we live in today. 

This trip has made the computer science students and I realize the mass of opportunities that we have not only in this country but everywhere in the world and therefore it has fuelled our interest in the subject and made us aim for universities like Stanford.