Can you imagine the whole school knowing code? Computer science teacher Cheri Whalen can. On Wed. Dec. 11 Whalen hosted an “Hour of Code” along with thousands of other schools across the U.S. as part of Computer Science Education Week.
Over 130 CPHS students attended the “Hour of Code” throughout first, second and third period. During the hour, they were taught how to program an electronic holiday card with help from the students in Whalen’s Computer Science II class.
Plenty of tech-savvy students attended, including aspiring video game designer sophomore Collin Niemietz.
“It seemed like a fun way to learn more programming,” Niemietz said.
However, not all attendees had overwhelming experience with computers. Junior Jon David went with his architecture class with no experience and now wants to take a computer science class.
“The tutorial was really easy to use and it’s really fun to program,” David said.
For junior David Bonsall, who helped all the attendees along with the rest of the computer science class, the “Hour of Code” was about bettering the student body.
“I think it will help people out by helping them better understand how computers work,” Bonsall said. “It shows them that software isn’t really just a bunch of random numbers and letters just floating around in the computer.”
Bonsall, who hopes to become an engineer, also pointed out how crucial it is for students to learn about technology.
“With so much technology around, it makes sense that we should at least have an idea of how stuff works,” Bonsall said.
This, Whalen says, was her goal when she decided to conduct an “Hour of Code”
“I think the future of all students will be greatly impacted by technology,” Whalen said. “Every person in my students’ generation should know a minimal amount about computers and what makes a computer work.”
Now that Computer Science Education Week is over, Whalen is focused on expanding next year’s “Hour of Code”
“My goal would be for every student to have some experience with computer science before they graduate,” Whalen said.