Stamford HS Receives Funding To Develop Youth Coding Programs

From SPS:Stamford Public Schools (SPS) announced that the Stamford High School (SHS) Library Learning Commons (Media Center) received $500 from the American Library Association (ALA) to help plan and implement coding activities during Computer Science Education (CS Ed) Week 2018 (December 3-9) and beyond. Stamford High School is one of 250 public and school libraries around the country to receive this microfunding from Libraries Ready to Code, an initiative of the American Library Association sponsored by Google.

“I love that there is an Hour of Code and that we have the ability to work with teachers and students to expose them to this skill,” said SHS Media Specialist Mary Raphael George.

This grant will help support the staff and students in the school, as well as library’s programs such as the “Girls Who Code” and the “3D Printing Club” by providing them with the needed materials to prepare them with college and career skills.

“Libraries are the cornerstones of our communities,” said Google Program Manager Nicky Rigg. “We are proud to include Stamford High School Library Learning Commons in our CS Ed Week activities this year. We hope these libraries will join the growing number of libraries excited to offer CS programs that help youth create, problem solve and develop the confidence and skills to succeed in their future careers.”

“ALA is pleased to provide microfunding to Stamford High School Library Learning Commons and other Ready to Code libraries,” said ALA President Loida Garcia-Febo. “We hope this microfunding will not only generate enthusiasm for CS Ed Week, but spark year-round programming to develop critical thinking and digital skills youth can draw on over a lifetime.”

According to the organization, the 250 libraries selected for CS Ed Week funding will each host activities based on Google’s free CS First curriculum, which uses video-based instruction to introduce CS to kids through block-based coding. Libraries will pursue projects that reflect Ready to Code themes critical for advancing youth learning, especially for building computational thinking literacies. The Ready to Code team estimates that the CS Ed Week funding will support more than 60,000 youth all around the country taking part in coding activities throughout the week.

About Stamford High School Library Learning Commons: The Library Learning Commons serves as the focal point for all information literacy and problem solving instruction in the school. The mission is to ensure that all students become independent, skillful, and discriminating users and communicators of ideas and information.

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