First CodeWeek Grant Project in Latvia Successfully Completed: AI Online Summer School for Youth
This summer, Latvia concluded its very first project supported by the European CodeWeek grant program – the Artificial Intelligence Online Summer School, organized by the Information Technology Distance Learning Secondary School. At the beginning of summer 2025, Latvian organizations were able to apply for CodeWeek support grants for the very first time, with the aim of implementing educational activities to strengthen digital skills. A total of five organizations received funding, and the first completed initiative was the AI Online Summer School for young people, held from July 17 to August 21, 2025.
Learning AI in Practice
The Summer School was created for students aged 15–17, attracting 150 participants from across Latvia, who joined the program remotely.
“It is important that today’s youth understand how to use AI meaningfully and safely, both for learning and for their professional growth. That is precisely why we organized this summer school – we see that many young people can already use ChatGPT to write an essay or solve homework, but they do not fully understand its broader possibilities and applications,” said Anžela Džafarova, founder of the IT school.
As part of the Summer School, young people tried their hand at AI-powered image generation, learned how large language models work, and discovered why it is so important to take part in hackathons already during school years. Participants were provided with practical knowledge and skills in using AI tools for creating text, image, audio, and video content. They also explored what “vibe coding” is and how it is possible to create their own application even without programming skills.
At the conclusion of the Summer School, a final activity was held – a video project in which participants applied the tools they had learned to develop AI-based content. Upon graduation from the IT Summer School, all participants received CodeWeek certificates.
Sessions were led by experienced IT professionals who actively use AI tools in their daily work and shared their expertise with the students. Among them were Elchins Jafarovs from Datorium, Toms Bude from Lokalise, Baiba Apkalna from Visma Latvia, Pauls Siliņš from RigaTechGirls, and Monta Viļumsone from Companon.
Free Access to Learning Materials
All lesson recordings are freely available on the Information Technology Distance Learning Secondary School website and schools and teachers from anywhere in Latvia can use them to promote understanding of Artificial Intelligence in their own classes.
About the Project
The Artificial Intelligence Online Summer School was implemented with the support of a CodeWeek grant under the Code4Europe initiative. In Latvia, Code4Europe is coordinated by the Latvian Information and Communication Technology Association (LIKTA). Code4Europe activities are funded by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) under the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL), Project No. 101158834 — Code4Europe.
