“2nd Chance of Opportunity”

I loved technology when I was a little kid! I would go to yard sales and buy remote controls just to open them up and investigate the chip inside. As I went through school, though, my chances to study technology and computer science was limited. I do not remember a single thing that I learned between grades K and 12. This affected me in college.

I chose to study biology and pre-med since I had experience with them, knew that I enjoyed them, and knew that I could do well in them. I was intrigued by CS, but I didn't want to take a class, risking thousands of dollars in tuition on a subject that I didn't know if I would be good at or enjoy. I distinctly remember seeing the CS majors' projects, programming robots to play music and dance around the floor, and wishing that I could do that...yet I never did.

Fast forward a few years, and I am a high school science teacher. A friend tells me about an opportunity to be trained in something called Exploring Computer Science, an introductory high school curriculum for students with little-to-no background in CS. This is perfect! I can provide my students with the opportunities that I wish I had in school. I ended up creating a pathway for students to take ECS, AP CSP, and AP CSA, but I knew that I had done all I could at that school.

I left to become a professional developer. I now spend my time designing and implementing trainings for K-12 teachers who want to start teaching CS, either as a standalone class or integrated into another subject area. And I still occasionally run coding events for kids at my local library.