The Convent of the Sacred Heart community is celebrating Computer Science Education Week (CSedWeek) December 8 through December 14. A critical component of the weeklong celebration is the Hour of Code, in which Upper School students and faculty practice computer coding skills Thursday, December 11 from 10 am to 11 am.
CSedWeek is an annual program dedicated to inspire students across the world to pursue studies in computer science. According to csedweek.org, code.org is producing the event this year in honor of computer programming pioneer Admiral Dr. Grace Murray Hopper’s birthday.
Dr. Hopper was born December 9, 1906 and was a leader in the field of software development as well as a United States Navy rear admiral. Men and women in the computer science field sometimes refer to her as “Amazing Grace” for her many accomplishments, according to cs.yale.edu.
The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching millions of students in over 180 countries. It consists of a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to enlighten students on the basics of computer coding, a practice sometimes deemed a challenging task.
“I used to think of computer coding as a real challenge that only extremely intelligent people who are apt in computer science can do,” junior Cynthia Thomas said. “But as I learned from the Hour of Code last year, it is hard, but it’s not as much of a challenge as I originally thought.”
Although an Hour of Code can occur at any time during the year, code.org‘s goal is for the majority of students to join from December 8 through December 14.
The Sacred Heart community engaged in an Hour of Code last December. This year, the Programming Seminar and Computer Science classes at Sacred Heart decided to join in the event for another year.
“Computer Science is a topic that is growing in importance in our society,” junior and member of the AP Computer Science class Erin Schick said. “Seeing the success that last year’s Hour of Code brought made us think that having another Hour of Code would be just as fun and beneficial.”
The entire Upper School will participate, including students, teachers, and the administration.
“We believe it is a worthwhile and important point to make that coding can be fun for everyone: transcending gender, age and socioeconomic boundaries,” Director of Educational Technology and Upper School Computer teacher Mr. Karl Haeseler said.
In addition to participating in the Hour of Code, the Principles of Computer science class, with the aid of Mr. Haeseler, created a video highlighting the importance of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math). The video premiered today during the Upper School morning meeting.
Six institutions in the network of Sacred Heart schools also plan on participating in the event, including Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart in Illinois, Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart in Houston, Convent of the Sacred Heart in New York, Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco, Schools of Sacred Heart in Grand Couteau and Sacred Heart in Greenwich.
For more information regarding how to perform an Hour of Code please visit hourofcode.com.
– Katie Nail, News Editor
Video is courtesy of Principles of Computer Science student-led project in recognition of Computer Science Week 2014.