Earlier this year we announced the creation of the Tryolabs Scholarship, aimed to support university students at early stages of their careers in computer science and engineering. The experience as a whole was amazing and we selected a winner and a runner-up a couple of months ago. Now that things settled down, we are ready to tell you more about them.

And Tryolabs Scholarship goes to... (drum roll please)

Let's start by introducing two outstanding people, examples of hard work, dedication and determination. Coming from Reboledo, a small town in Florida, Uruguay, we have Matías, who began studying Computer Science in July 2017. He chose this path in order to pursue his desire to help people through research and applying technology to everyday life.

Matías Fernández, winner of the Tryolabs Scholarship.

Secondly, we have Adolfo, from La Teja, a beautiful neighborhood in Montevideo, who also started a career in Computer Science at the beginning of the year. He defines himself as passionate about science and technology and their potential to change our customs, habits and how we actually live our lives.

Adolfo Castelo, special mention of the Tryolabs Scholarship.

After these two mandatory introductions, let's go back to March 2017, when we set ourselves the challenge of defining and implementing a scholarship for Computer Science undergraduates. Our main goal was to help talented young students that were having a hard time keeping up the challenges of college life in Uruguay, so they could continue their studies and fulfill their desire of completing their degree.

What seemed to be a dream became a reality when we created, along with Fundación Julio Ricaldoni and UDELAR, the Tryolabs Scholarship. The focus of the scholarship is to give a hand with resources and support needed by students to complete their studies. A little help for a big purpose!

We did a big campaign to reach as many people as possible and once we received the applications, hard work began! The task of selecting a student among such amazing applicants was not an easy one. We had the responsibility of picking up the candidate that, fulfilling the previously defined requirements, best represented the spirit of the scholarship, making sure that the selected person would take the biggest advantage of it in order to accomplish their goals.

As a result, we awarded Matías Fernández with the Tryolabs Scholarship and Adolfo Castelo with a special mention for his merits.

The applications we received were extremely interesting and showed great potential. The final decision was made taking into consideration the positive impact the scholarship would have in each candidate's reality, while honoring their effort, dedication and determination. And, most importantly, their courage of not giving up when things get harsh and going the extra mile to pursue their goals.

We are very happy and excited with the results of the Tryolabs Scholarship program and sincerely hope more companies will join us in the initiative of helping students in the pursue of their careers and dreams.

We congratulate Matías and Adolfo and wish them the best as they prepare to become great professionals and better people. We are sure this is the first of tons of opportunities that will be presented to them in the near future.