Higher ed/business partnership offers computer instruction for middle schoolers

By CSU Media | July 5, 2018

As the tech industry in Charleston continues to grow, higher education and the business community are offering opportunities for young students to learn about career possibilities.

Charleston Southern University, Trident Technical College and Charleston Women in Tech partnered to provide a group of middle school students from Robert Mills Manor in Charleston with a day learning about computer science.

The students attending SummersON for CodeON spent Friday, June 29 learning about programming, cybersecurity and robotics. In the morning, students learned about computer technology in sessions at Trident Tech, including programming their very own superhero. Students also participated in a hands-on exercise of deconstructing and reconstructing a computer.

The afternoon was spent touring BoomTown! and PhishLabs to give students a glimpse of what it is like to work in the computer science field.

Dr. Valerie Sessions, chair of the department of computer science at Charleston Southern University and a member of Charleston Women in Tech, said, “We were excited to share these experiences with these great and dedicated students.”

Palmetto Roost, the local chapter of an international cyber warfare group, sponsored lunch at Chuck E. Cheese for the students.