Ponca City public school students and administrators learning to write computer code

Ponca City high school students and administrators are learning to write computer code.

Dec. 9-15 was Computer Science Education week worldwide.

Ponca City public school students at Po-Hi and West middle dchool joined more than 10 million students in 35,000 schools, across 167 countries completing an “Hour of Code.”

Ponca City high school technology coach, Angela Kahle-Mendoza said the participating high school students, along with district administrators have already completed 192 hours and logged in over 10,015 lines of computer coding.

Students are learning they can try their hand at creating their own app or video game, and discover the science behind gaming.

Even Superintendent, Dr. David Pennington participated and received his certificate.

Everyone who completed one hour received a certificate.

Leaders from across the political spectrum have stepped forward to ask students everywhere to learn computer programming.

You can see computer science on the home pages of Google, Yahoo, YouTube, MSN, Bing and Disney, and many are promoting it online or in email.

With unprecedented support from not only CEOs, celebrities and world leaders, but from teachers, parents and students to spread a simple idea – that computer science should be accessible to every 21^st century student.

Ponca City public school district technology coach Carol Matteson said several classes participated.

“There are several classes at Po-Hi and West that participated in the initiative,” Matteson said. “The ‘Hour of Code’ was a great opportunity for every student to try computer science for one hour. There is no experience required and students are having a good time learning how to code. Not only are students and teachers learning about code, but we are also making history by participating in this world event.”

Research shows that the number of computer jobs in this country is rising three times faster than the number of computer science graduates.

At this rate, in the year 2020 there will be more than one million jobs unfilled.

The “Hour of Code” campaign was kicked off by President Obama, with Google replacing its logo in support.

Every Apple retail store in America offered a workshop for this.

With support from Ashton Kutcher to Shakira, computer science is a lot more mainstream than people think.

The “Hour of Code” is a massive campaign to introduce more than 10 million students to computer science by having them do an hour-long online tutorial between Dec.9-15.

All ages are welcome and no experience is required.

To learn more about Apple’s “Hour of Code” workshops, visit www.apple/retail.

Microsoft retail stores will host an “Hour of Code” at all 51 U.S. stores throughout the week.