Governor Hutchinson visited North Heights Junior High to talk with students about the importance of STEM in everyday life, from manufacturing, to agriculture and even the medical field.
In 2015, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson fulfilled his campaign promise to provide computer-coding classes to all Arkansas high schools – Arkansas was the first state to pass comprehensive legislation requiring that computer science courses be taught in every public high school.
Since the passage of the Computer Science Bill (HB1183), the Governor has toured hundreds of schools across the state encouraging students to enroll in computer science courses.
“Coding and computer science is for everyone; the field is drawing students from diverse ethnic backgrounds,” commented Governor Hutchinson. “It’s changing our students from being consumers to creators and innovators.”
The Governor’s leadership on computer-science education has garnered both state and national recognition, from the White House to national media outlets and tech companies including, Time Magazine, WIRED Magazine, Code.org, The 74, Morning Joe, and U.S. News and World Report.
North Heights Junior High students are no strangers to computer science and coding. Last year, students in the computer science class competed against 1,700 schools across the country and received the Code-A-Thon award presented by Learning.com. As Code-A-Thon winners, staff and students received free access to Easy Code, a game-based introduction to coding principles using Python.
During Governor Hutchinson’s visit, he gave an update on the success of the computer science initiative and encourage students to enroll in courses as they prepare to complete their schedules for the upcoming school year. Additionally, the Governor visited with students in the computer lab as they showcased their coding and robotic projects.
