December 7th- 13th was special for the computer science world – it was Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek). CSEdWeek always falls around December 9th, the birthday of the legendary Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, in recognition of her amazing contributions to computer science. During this week, Symantec partner Code.org encourages students around the world to try one hour of coding. This annual Hour of Code campaign is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries. Code.org has several one-hour tutorials in over thirty languages and for all ages (all the way up to 108!), including a Star Wars-themed tutorial where you can build a galaxy with code. Anthony Flaviani, Symantec’s Senior Director, Security Education Services, used his Hour of Code to volunteer with students, discussing the "dark side" of coding and introducing some basic security awareness concepts.
Only one in four schools teach computer programming, so most students are not exposed to computer science. CSEdWeek and Code.org want to change that by inspiring students to take interest in computer science and encouraging parents and teachers to support computer science education. This year’s Hour of Code was the biggest one yet. Over 190,000 events were registered worldwide, reaching over 50 million students!
Challenge yourself, your child, or a friend to learn an Hour of Code. Try one of the tutorials here!
Symantec is committed to providing Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) opportunities to youth around the world, and throughout the CSEd week our employees were actively participating in Hour of Code events globally. Beyond Hour of Code, we have partnered with Code.org in other volunteering capacities including the recently launched Skype in the Classroom. More than 73 Symantec employees from India, South Africa, United States, Poland, and more have signed up to be guest speakers in this program.
Gaspar Modelo-Howard, a Principal Data Scientist at Symantec, virtually presented to a group of students from the College of Information Technology & Engineering (CITE), in Kathmandu, Nepal and discussed pathways for a career in computer security and data science. Gaspar was also able to present to more than 200 local students from Mountain View High School in San Jacinto, CA.
After presenting to a group of fifth graders, Software Quality Engineer Tejaswi Billa-Koti, described his experience as “very fulfilling and absolutely amazing. I was really amazed at the knowledge that these kids exhibited, something I don’t think I had as a kid when I was their age.”
Software Quality Engineer, Tejaswi Billa-Koti, led an Hour of Code for fifth grade students at 156th Street Elementary in Gardena, CA.
There are many ways we can each contribute to inspiring our youth to learn about computer science. This week, share one hour of code with someone you know!
Stephen Trilling, is Symantec's Chief Technology Officer