Hackley Computer Science Education Week

Not even COVID-19 will prevent the Hackley Computer Science Department from once again celebrating Computer Science Education Week on the Hilltop.

Annually scheduled during the first week of December, CS Ed Week is a program dedicated to inspiring K-12 students to become involved in the study of computer science. Here at Hackley, we highlight this week as a chance to celebrate just a little and reflect on computer science and its impact on our world.

Originally conceived by the Computing in the Core coalition, it is now sponsored by Code.org®, an organization founded by Hackley Alumni Hadi and Ali Partovi (’90). Code.org has led an unprecedented drive to bring computer science to education. Through its annual Hour of Code event hosted during CS Ed Week, Code.org has involved more than 1 billion students from more than 180 countries across the globe. 

The current COVID-19 restrictions have required us to change the design of our annual CS Ed Week celebration. Even with these changes, we are hopeful that we can share the excitement and joy our students experience in our computer science classes each day. 

During the week, all lower school students explored and worked with the tutorials, games, and challenges developed for their age group by Code.org. Computer programs displaying unique and engaging visual designs through programming and written by our middle school students were also playing in the lower school lobby throughout the week. 

Hackley’s own student periodical, theDIAL, posted feature articles. One was written by senior Nick Khoo, Technical Editor, and highlighted the creative work by some of our 7th and 8th graders as part of CS Ed Week. Additionally, theDIAL Features Editor Alina Watson offered a student spotlight article sharing the story of the sibling team of Deeya and Divek Patel. The Patel’s used their experiences with computer science and robotics, with support from corporations and Hackley’s Russ Hogg Endowment for Creative Expression, to design and develop a device to assist the visually impaired. 

Leaders of Hackley’s own Girls Who Code club are planning to host an online presentation/webinar for Hackley 7th and 8th graders in the near future. More information will be shared once those details are finalized. 
 
We again look forward to participating as part of this national program, and highlighting the exciting world of computer science!
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