St. Augustine Students Join Google's Made With Code Initiative and Light Up Holiday Trees With Code

As participants in the Hour of Code for 2014, the students at St. Augustine of Canterbury School joined in Google’s Made with Code initiative and programmed the lights on holiday trees in President’s Park at the White House. They got to select the shape, size, and color of the lights, and animate different patterns using the introductory Blocky programming language and their designs will appear live on the trees throughout the month of December. Although Google’s Made with Code is a movement launched in June 2014 to inspire millions of girls to learn to code, and to help them see coding as a means to pursue their dream careers, “we decided to open it up to all our students, both boys and girls so that they could be a part of such an historic event, and have it be the kickoff to our Hour of Code week,” commented Debra Knox, Technology Teacher at St. Augustine. “This is the second time we are participating in the Hour of Code during Computer Science Week (De. 8-14) and we are committed to introducing and promoting these foundational 21st century skills here in our school, and encouraging the students to keep learning how to write code” added Sr. Mary Louise Shulas, MPF, the school’s Principal. “We know that regardless of what our students do when they grow up, whether they go into medicine, business, politics, or the arts, knowing how to build technology will give them the confidence and know-how to succeed.”
Once the students master programming their own trees on the Made with Code website, they can use their new found coding skills to tackle other holiday-themed projects available. Intermediate students can create their own snowflake, choose from different animation schemes and background colors. Each small adjustment helps kids learn more about how coding works, and finished snowflakes can be saved and shared on social media sites.

“I always had an interest in learning how to code, and now that the program that I wrote made my tree come to life at the White House, I feel that coding will be an important part of my future,” said Hannah K. a 7th grader and one of the first students to use this website.