Space, a booster for French Guianese youth – March 2022

On 10 February, on the occasion of the VS27 launch, Europe’s spaceport welcomed 78 secondary school children, including the winners of the 2021 "C'Génial" competition, who came from Cayenne and Kourou to the Ibis observation site.

The next edition of the school science competition will take place on 29 March at the Space Museum. 140 pupils aged 10 to 15, from Years 5 to 10, have worked on 9 projects and will be competing for the title in this year's competition.

Also in February, "Les Entretiens de l'Excellence" (Talks on excellence), organised by the associations "Guyane en vol" and "Les Entretiens de l'Excellence", were held at the University of French Guiana. High school and university students met professionals from various sectors, including the space industry, in theme-based workshops. On 19 February 2022, more than 300 students and 80 speakers took part in this event. 

On 18 March, during the "Ma thèse en 180 secondes" (My thesis in 180 seconds) competition, four candidates went head-to-head on stage at the l'Encre auditorium in Cayenne, vying for the regional prize. Daniela Krebber, an Austrian student, is the lucky winner of this 2022 edition. The jury's second prize went to French Guianese student Agathe Alais.

The second edition of the "L'Espace c’est classe" operation has been running since February.  This French space agency project, organised in mainland France every year since 2011, has been conducted in French Guiana since 2021. More than 15 schools across French Guiana are taking part in the 2022 edition.

The idea is to get French space agency employees to talk about their jobs in secondary and high schools.

Classroom visits are scheduled until June 2022. 

Every year, CNES awards grants to young people wishing to continue their studies in French Guiana, in mainland France, or abroad. Applications for the 2022-2023 school year are now open. Several types of schemes are available to help finance an apprenticeship or short- or long-term studies. 

Last year, 27 students benefited from this financial aid. 

 

As part of the launch of the James Webb telescope on 25 December, the French space agency, the Local Authorities in French Guiana (CTG), the Région Académique de Guyane, the Campus des métiers et des qualifications aéronautiques et spatial Guyane, the Kourou University Institute of Technology, and La Poste organised three competitions for school and university students in French Guiana.

The lucky winners of the competition will be announced at the awards ceremony in April.