Sixth through eighth graders can learn high-tech coding during DMC camp July 18-22
FREE #Code_IT Camp underway; learning opportunity available to limited number of campers and made possible through $14,000 TWC grant awarded to DMC
Article by Rosa Linda Reynoso
We live in a world driven by high-tech. Fields such as computer science can keep the Texas economy competitive on the global stage. What better way to encourage young minds to consider studies and a career in that field than to offer a one-week coding camp to show them the possibilities that await. And, it’s FREE!
A $14,000 Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) Code Camp grant is making such a learning opportunity available to local sixth through eighth graders, again, this summer at Del Mar College (DMC) for 20 available seats for this year’s #Code_IT Camp.
Now in its fourth year, the camp will run Monday through Friday, July 18-22, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Emergency Training Building (FEMA Dome) on the College’s Windward Campus, 4101 Old Brownsville Rd. The camp includes lunch each day, and campers will also receive a tee shirt and a programmable mBot Nero robot that they can take home when the camp ends.
For more information, contact Camp Coordinator Dara Betz, a Director with the DMC Workforce Programs and Corporate Services Division, at 361-698-1093 or dbetz@delmar.edu.
Campers will spend the week learning about technology and perform hands-on activities. The camp is designed to build participants’ problem-solving and analytical skills while piquing their interest in computer science as a potential career as part of initiatives to encourage young Texans to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields.
During the one-week camp, participants will receive approximately eight hours of classroom instruction and perform 22 hours of hands-on activities with four types of robots. Based on visual evaluation and skill assessment after the first day of instructional and hands-on coding, campers will be grouped into teams of three, and each team will have an equal balance of beginner, intermediate and advanced coding skill sets.
Developed to be a team-building experience, the #Code_IT Camp offers several levels of coding curriculum focused on spatial reasoning and computer programming, logic-based programming and text-based coding for drones. The camp also exposes campers to design logic, computational thinking and language scripting for robots.
Campers work in their same group throughout the week toward the final project on the last day, the Ultimate Team Challenge, a friendly competition that includes all four coding projects to demonstrate the impact of a week’s worth of high-tech learning.
The end-game is that organizers hope the #Code_IT Camp will ignite participants’ passion for STEM studies, specifically computer science.
Del Mar College empowers students to achieve their dreams. We offer quality programs, individual attention, outstanding instruction through faculty with real-world experience and affordable costs to credit and noncredit students in Corpus Christi and the South Texas Coastal Bend area. Nationally recognized while locally focused, we’re ranked in the top two percent of community colleges in the country granting associate degrees to Hispanic students (Community College Week). Del Mar College focuses on offering our students programs that match current or emerging career opportunities. Whether students are interested in the fine arts, sciences, business, occupational or technical areas, students get the education they need for the future they want at Del Mar College.