PEARCY -- Students at Lake Hamilton High School will soon have the opportunity to learn more about computer science, as the school has been selected to participate in the Amazon Future Engineer Program.
Due to the school being selected to participate, the students will be able to sign up for AP Computer Science A in the 2019-20 school year. This class will use Edhesive curriculum, a program that usually costs around $20,000. LHHS will get the curriculum for free.
The course will be taught by Karma Turner, who heard about the program and applied for it. She said she was hopeful that the school would be selected, as she knew that rural schools that are starting their computer science programs are the schools that Amazon was looking for.
Turner is in her third year as a computer science teacher for LHHS, but she has been a teacher for over 20 years. One of the benefits of being a part of this program, Turner said, is that the curriculum offered in the new course will offer more opportunities than what she could previously do by herself.
Another benefit, Turner said, is that students who take the course will be eligible for both Amazon scholarships and Amazon internships after they pass the class. Also, any student who passes the AP exam at the end of the class will get college credit for three hours.
Turner currently has five students taking her AP computer science class. However, the school has been promoting computer science classes to its students, so Turner said that she can expect to have up to 20 students take the course next year.
While Turner said that not every student will go on to be a programmer, the classes are good for students to take because of the wide variety of skills that they will learn in the class. For example, students in the class will learn better collaborative and communication skills.
The school district has shown support for the class. Communications Coordinator Brian Bridges said that, from the district's standpoint, the school getting into the program is a positive move. "It gives out students another opportunity to be successful."
Bridges said that it is the goal of the district to be able to reach their students and be able to allow them to pursue things that they are passionate about. He said that the program will allow students who are passionate about computer science to learn more about it.
The class is an elective, and depending on what grade the student is in, it can be used as either a math or science class. The class will be available for students in grades 10 through 12. While there are no prerequisites to enroll in the class, Turner said students need to be able to show knowledge of the topic to be in the class.
Local on 01/19/2019