FLATIRON PRE-COLLEGE ACADEMY CODING CLASSES AT 1871

Two Chicago-area teens among 13 coding scholarship winners

Posted: 05/05/2015, 12:08pm | Esther Castillejo

Charbel Bourjas of Harold Richards High school in Oak Lawn, and Jillian Pflederer of Lincoln Park High School, won scholarships to attend a summer workshop put on by the Flatiron School. | Provided

Charbel Bourjas doesn’t have to try to teach himself how to write computer code anymore.

Bourjas is one of two Chicago-area teens will code their summers away at the Flatiron School’s summer workshops in Chicago.

Joining him as just two of 13 winners nationwide is Jillian Pflederer. The 18-year-olds were selected by Flatiron and DoSomething.org — a national organization that funds initiatives encouraging social change. They will get a full ride to the two-week summer workshop, which normally costs $2,000.

“Winners were selected based on their vision and commitment to using technology to make the world a better place,” said Lyle Resner, director of Flatiron’s pre-college program. “Both Do Something.Org and the Flatiron School know that teenagers often bring a unique perspective to [social] issues, and we want to amplify their voice and give them real tools to advance causes that they care about.”

More than 1,500 teens applied for the scholarship nationwide to attend the workshops put on by Flatiron, a school focusing on Web and mobile development.

“Coding” is the art of learning to write computer code — the instructions that tell a computer what to do. The workshops cost $2,000 and focus on teaching students how to code and build apps. Sessions start in June at the Merchandise Mart headquarters of 1871, a technology startup hub.

Pflederer, a senior at Lincoln Park High School, said she applied because she doesn’t know much about coding and wants to learn more.

“Coding is the foundation to future job markets and technological advances that will dominate the next couple decades, and I want to be a part of that process,” she said. “I was so excited that I could still apply even though I didn’t have a lot of experience in programming.”

Bourjas, a senior at Harold Richards High School in Oak Lawn, said he was thrilled when he learned he had gotten the scholarship.

“I will be able to learn how to progress the world with the device that I carry in my book bag every day,” he said.

The 18-year-old had been trying to teach himself how to code; the scholarship allows him to take formal lessons.

“With learning how to properly code, I believe my options to innovate are limitless. We are shifting more towards technology for everyday things, and it is a field that is still relatively new, even with all of the inventions we have today,” he said.

Kids’ coding academies aim to bridge ‘skills gap - Flatiron School at 1871

Kids’ coding academies aim to bridge ‘skills gapDavid Pierini (8:15 am PDT, Mar 5th)

The Flatiron School in New York is expanding its coding academies for high school students to six U.S. cities this summer. 

There are plenty of schools with computers. But find a teacher with tech industry experience and you’ve found a “unicorn,” says a school director who wants to introduce kids to the language of coding.

Lyel Resner, director of K-12 curriculum at New York’s Flatiron School, is promoting a series of summer workshops across six U.S. cities to teach high school students programming fundamentals, app development, front-end web design and how to get a startup off the ground.

“Increasingly at the national level, there is recognition that computer science needs to be a focus of public education,” Resner told Cult of Mac. “We’re trying to attack the problem head on. We just don’t have a pipeline to generate talent domestically. (Employers) are pretty desperate for solutions right now.”

Resner is referring to a controversial phenomenon known as the “skills gap.” Recruiters and CEOs complain they are unable to find qualified people to fill the growing number of tech jobs. Some economists believe employers are hiding behind the so-called gap as a way to avoid doing any hiring.

Resner says the summer computer workshops in Chicago, New York City, Boston, Miami, Austin, Texas, and Greenwich, Conn., will take students deeper into industry-needed skills and give them a proper sense of how important coding and designs skills are to a variety of professions. Click on the city for details on an upcoming summer program near you.

The student coding academies have the same curriculum Flatiron uses to help unemployed adults transition into new careers, Resner said. Students will not only learn HTML, CSS and JavaScript, but will use the language to build a web app as part of the coursework.

A good idea is not enough, so academy students will learn business essentials like sales, finance, marketing and project management, Resner said.

“We got really good at helping adults,” Resner said of the school that is over two years old. “We keep the energy up with intense collaboration and project-based learning. It doesn’t matter if you never coded before. It’s no problem if you’ve never touched a computer before. There’s endless material to challenge kids at every level.”

Howard Tullman, CEO of tech incubator 1871 in Chicago, said he does not need elaborate statistics to know there’s a problem finding qualified people for the industry. He said his company’s recruiter can’t find enough computer scientists, engineers or coders to meet the demands of the companies represented at 1871.

He sees positive signs within Chicago and Illinois. Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants every kid in Chicago Public Schools exposed to basic coding and new Gov. Bruce Rauner wants education funding earmarked for technology.

“There’s equipment in the schools, but they’re way behind the instruction that goes with it,” Tullman said. “We think code should be the second language in schools. This is the population that is the most appropriate because they’re the most open to learning this kind of stuff.”

Read more at http://www.cultofmac.com/314318/kids-coding-academies-aim-fill-skills-gap/#R1hRTGOyWkVEYitY.99