June 2017 - ScriptEd's #404nomore Campaign
“1 million technology jobs will be unfilled by 2020. I believe ScriptEd can start closing that gap by providing courses to teach computer science in schools that otherwise would not have them.”
ScriptEd is a not-for-profit organization that develops curriculum and programs for students in under-resourced schools. It uses volunteer software developers to teach students fundamental coding skills, and currently serves 900 students from 35 high schools and engages 184 volunteers.
I started volunteering for ScriptEd in December, 2016, at the High School for Environmental Studies in Manhattan. I have worked as a software developer for the past three years and have experienced first-hand the need to increase diversity in the technology industry. Fewer than 10% of NYC public schools offer any form of computer science education and only 1% of students receive it, and one million technology jobs will be unfilled by 2020. I believe ScriptEd can start closing that gap by providing courses to teach computer science in schools that otherwise would not have them.
I volunteered for the Foundations Course where we primarily learned by creating small projects and games in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. While we gave some lectures to introduce the students to topics, the students were always most excited to code on their own and build a version of “Hangman” or a game with a Mr. Potato Head figure that catches falling potatoes.
In addition to their courses during the school year, Foundations Course graduates can apply for a 2.5-week paid program where they create websites for mock clients in a simulated real world project. Advanced Course graduates have the opportunity to do a paid internship with various technology companies in New York City.
With three volunteer teachers and a program manager, and only four students at HSES, we were able to work individually with each student. I’m extremely excited that three students who I taught will be attending the Summer Academy before attending college this Fall. In addition, HSES will be expanding the course next year and will be moving it from an after-school program to a full class. ScriptEd will continue to support the school with volunteers and there will also be a full-time teacher, so students will be learning to code every day.
With their #404nomore campaign, ScriptEd is raising $40,000 to buy 200 laptops for students without computers to be able to continue learning and coding on their own. We often ran out of class time right in the middle of an interesting or exciting problem and had to put off solving it until the next week. With the laptop library, students will be able to finish projects at home and stay engaged with coding.
The support from MITZVOTERS will be used to pay the stipend for one student in ScriptEd’s Summer Academy and will buy one Chromebook as inventory for a student laptop library. We hope that this donations will help motivate more students to become interested in coding and provide them with the tools for them to succeed at it.
Visit ScriptEd’s website to learn more or donate.
— Nate Burt, Project Lead