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Neighbors | Submitted.Students at Boardman High School are pictured working in their computer science courses. Students will be faced with a new cirriculum next year thanks to the Amazon Future Engineer program.
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Neighbors | Submitted.Ninth- through twelfth-graders at Boardman High School attended computer science classes 2018-19 school year.
By JESSICA HARKER
Boardman High School was selected as one of 1,000 schools to receive the Amazon Future Engineering curriculum for the 2019-20 school year.
Computer science teacher Evelyn Stanton said that this program is one aspect of an on going push to grow the computer science program at BHS.
“We are always look for something because we always want to have the best for our students,” Stanton said. “Our program is always evolving.”
Stanton applied to be apart of the Amazon program earlier this year, going through a competitive interview process before being selected.
“It was pretty intense,” Stanton said. “I had to say things about our school and how we have been teaching computers for over 19 years.”
Because the school was selected they received a copy of the Amazon Engineering Curriculum and teacher training to accompany it.
The school currently has two computer science classes, Intro to Computer Science and AP Computer Science Principals for students in tenth through twelfth grade.
The program will be incorporated into these already existing classes, adding new aspects including learning a new coding language, Python.
“Python is the language of the day,” Stanton said. “That is a very popular language right now.”
Stanton said part of the grant is that the school work to encourage more women and minority groups to participate in the computer science courses.
“Sadly most of my classes are filled with boys. We as educators do a poor job of telling girls and minorities that they need to come in and learn this,” Stanton said.
Along with this addition, students will be able to learn how to program drones and robots using Python throughout the year.
“We try to be very ground breaking and up on everything to provide the best for our students,” Stanton said.
Along with the Amazon Engineering Curriculum Boardman also received a computer science curriculum from Carnegie Melon with accompanied teacher training.
Stanton will be completing both training programs before next year and incorporating them into the new curriculum for the classes.
“These programs are designed for not just the computer science student but for the general ed students who are looking at a career in anything,” Stanton said. “Because a computer touches every profession you can think of.”
Both updated courses will be available for students beginning next year.