Sylvan Learning, Mission EDC, and Border Kids Code are thrilled about Code The Town’s FIRST graduating class during National Computer Science Education Week. The support for promoting STEM in the City of Mission has been overwhelming. It has been so exciting to see the enthusiastic response from educators, students, and parents within the Mission community as they have expanded their computer science and coding knowledge.
Approximately 150 students ranging from grades K – 6 will be receiving certificates of completion and additional awards for projects done outside the Sylvan Learning Boot Camp. Sylvan offered two-week boot camps consisting of daily eight-hour sessions. Sylvan Learning (corporate) had already partnered with Tynker Technology to create a coding program that allows students to write their own video games and apps using STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Math), reading, logic, and critical thinking skills. Mission elementary students were the first to pilot this new curriculum. In addition, the children also had the opportunity to collaborate with other children on building a project that they will present during the graduation event.
Forty middle and high school career and technology teachers from Mission, Sharyland, and La Joya School Districts also attended a full-day professional development session with Dalinda Alcantar and Marcos Silva, founders of Border Kids Code. Teachers learned how to execute coding programs. With this Trainer of Trainers model, these teachers returned to their schools to teach coding to their students. The overall impact these teachers and administrators had was in excess of 7,000 students.
In addition, an Hour of Code event will take place during graduation. Plenty of workstations will be setup throughout the City of Mission’s Boys and Girls Club to allow attendees to participate in the Hour of Code. The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anybody can learn the basics. Anybody can host an Hour of Code anytime, but the grassroots campaign goal is for tens of millions of students to try an Hour of Code during December 8-14, 2014, in celebration of Computer Science Education Week. For more information on Code the Town, please visit www.codethetown.com or contact Mission EDC at (956) 585-0040.
