BY HANNAH DEAR (‘17)
NEWS EDITOR

In the high school and middle school cafeteria on Dec 10 will be the second annual Hour of Code for ages K-12.

The Hour of Code is a national event that exposes students of all ages to computer science and programming.

“The Hour of Code is an initiative started by a nonprofit called Code.org, and they launch it as a portion of National Computer Science Education Week,” applications coordinator Evan McCullough said.

Computer science and programming are not normal subjects for students to learn, but it teaches useful life skills.

“It’s really a way of thinking in a problem solving method,” McCullough said. “It’s something that anyone can pull from computer science whether or not they want to go into a career in programming.”

Last year, the Hour of Code involved over a hundred students.

“Last year our heavier focus was on the younger kids. The first session was K-6, and there were over a hundred kids just in that session,” McCullough said.

This year the day is split into a session in the morning for grades K-4 and a session in the afternoon for grades 5-12 with each session lasting an hour.

“I’m hoping that with having K-4 and 5-12 there will be more of a focus ont eh afternoon session with the way we’ve shifted things around,” McCullough said.

Some students in the high school and middle school have taken advantage of the new computer science classes being offered, but many still are not.

“Hopefully for those student sin the intermediate school and middle school who haven’t had the opportunity to take the classes will get interested in it,” McCullough said.

Regardless of skill levels in programming, all students are invited out to enhance their knowledge of computer science.

“The big thing is that computer science encompasses more than incorporating ones, zeroes, and weird looking syntax,” McCullough said.