James Hixson Board Room
Thursday, December 8, 2016
- 7:00pm
Mission Statement: We provide the necessary facilities, appropriate equipment, technological instruction and learning environment relevant to business and industrial needs in order to enhance student success.
On Saturday November 12, Central 9 Career Center had a Girls in Technology STEM Camp. 9 Middle School students from Indian Creek, Franklin Community, Greenwood, Perry Meridian, and Clark Pleasant attended the one day camp from 8 am to 2 pm.
The camp started with students learning to code a game in a computer language called JAVA. Students were instructed by Central 9’s Computer Science Teacher (Michael Paprocki) and a current female Computer Science student (Megan Whitmore). The students learned how to type code into the text editor. Students learned what a variable, method and class were and how to use them in coding. They also learned how to detect an error and how to fix it. After the students finished creating their game (a ladybug the user moves around the screen using the computer arrow keys to eat cupcakes, and dodge spiders; once the ladybug eats ten of the twelve cupcakes the game ends with music congratulating the user. The students as a group decided how the game would be played and what to use as an enemy, background, and what they would like for the game to be able to do.
The next activity was a discussion panel of four women (Nicole Otte, Jennifer Denney, Regina Miller and JoAnne LaBounty) who hold/held nontraditional careers in the STEM field. The panel explained to the students how they got to where they are today, successes, and failures/ setbacks. Also the panel discussed the opportunities these students have with advancements in Technology.
After an all you can eat buffet the last activity for the day was a guided tour of Central 9 Career Center by the Career Pathway Specialist(Ms. Naum). She showed students the campus and highlighted the 23 program available at Central 9 Career Center. Students finished off the day receive a cinch sac backpack from Central 9 filled with donation from local companies in the community, a flash drive and T-shirt for attending the camp.
Highlights from the camp: Numerous students said they planned on attending Central 9 Career Center when they get into high school. Students were passionate about showing the game created during the camp to their family and friends.