Training the next generation

Ayushi Oswal | June 29, 2020 | Elkins High School

Hello everyone! My name is Ayushi and I am the President of PEAC at Elkins High School where we focus on educating others in Computer Science. I was first exposed to computer science in my freshman year of high school when I took an entry level computer science course at school, and since then my love for the subject has only grown. Over the past three years I have been able to explore the world of technology and develop a true passion for it. With the power of coding, I felt I could make a great impact on the world through application and website design, programs I could develop completely on my own. However, throughout this entire journey, something I found myself constantly wishing for was earlier exposure to coding. Had I been exposed to what I could do with programming in middle or elementary school, I could have worked on further developing my skills and knowledge in the subject. This thought process stayed with me throughout high school, and when the opportunity to start a chapter dedicated to teaching younger kids coding appeared, I jumped on it. When starting the Elkins High School PEAC chapter, it was very important to me that it be dedicated to inspiring younger kids to pursue programming and creating an environment where they could freely explore the topic and ask questions about it.

This past year our chapter has begun volunteering at Quail Valley Middle School by leading their Coding Club and mentoring their Technovation Team. It was a really big challenge going into a completely new school and teaching environment that I, nor the rest of the club, had really had experience in. But, despite the reservations our club possessed we pushed forward and were able to completely change and develop how the Quail Valley Computer Coding club was run. Our program spends most of its time developing an easy yet fun curriculum for the students based on the languages of Scratch and HTML. By beginning with the basics and using many interactive coding examples we are able to keep all of our kids constantly engaged. When talking to the activities director of the Gifted and Talented Academy at Quail Valley, she asked if we could mentor and guide their Technovation team. For this, my Vice-President and I were able to work closely with a determined group of girls in order to help them pursue their passion in application development. It was truly an educational experience for both us and the girls as well. For the upcoming year we would also like to try our hand at organizing an event for kids across all ages, focusing on computer science. Considering the current world situation, this may be just a far off dream, but we here at the Elkins Chapter are incredibly excited to try and spread our love of computer science throughout our district. 

PEAC’s desire to promote education across the country really resonates with me and I hope that I am able to spread the wonderful desire to learn and keep learning about computer science.