EHS Celebrates National Computer Science Education Week

In honor of National Computer Science Education Week, will present a Computer Science Showcase from 8 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 8. The evening's activities, which are open to the public, will include technology demonstrations and celebrations, along with some hands-on learning for the local community.

Attendees will get the chance to see programmable robots from the high school’s Robotics Club in action and be treated to an expo of middle and high school students’ computer science projects. Plus, they'll meet local computer science professionals.

Community members will also be able to try out some of the robots and learn to use student-created apps for devices like phones and iPods.

“In 2008, the United States Congress designated the week in December containing the 9^th as National Computer Science Education Week in order to promote computer science as a legitimate field of study,” according to Carlen Blackstone, computer science teacher at the high school and organizer of the event.

The significance of the date is to celebrate the birthday of Grace Hopper (Dec. 9, 1906 - Jan.1, 1992). Hopper invented something called the compiler, which Blackstone says has made possible all other software development. A compiler, she explains, is used to translate lines of programming code from a high-level  programming language to a lower-level language that the computer can understand.

Cake and apple cider will be served at the showcase. The birthday cake will honor Hopper’s special day, while the apple cider will celebrate the contribution Apple CEO Steve Jobs (Feb. 24, 1955 - Oct. 5, 2011) made to mankind. 

“He was a true pioneer by putting a computer into everyone’s hand,” Blackstone says.