SOPHOMORE STUDENT RECEIVES ACCOLADES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE
Sophomore Segun Rai recently won third place at the CMU ( Carnegie Mellon University ) CS Academy Fall Creative Task Competition . rentwood Borough SCHOOL DISTRICT NEWS
Each year in the spring and in fall , teachers submit the work of three students for judging . Each program submitted must meet specific requirements as they relate to programming concepts / commands learned in the CS Academy programming environment .
“ Segun ' s work was entered into a unique category called " Unrestricted " that allowed him to use more advanced programming concepts in his code which was an image of a lighthouse . The code he wrote to create the image was very complex ,” said computer science teacher Chris Pierce . For the last six years , Brentwood has participated in the CS Academy Competition , which receives entries from several countries around the world .
Rai said the most difficult aspect of the competition was the time crunch , only getting a 45 minute class period to work on his design each day .
Rai is currently enrolled in two computer science courses : AP Computer Science Principles and Coding I . Both classes use the CS Academy programming environment using the python programming language .
“ I really enjoy programming and hope to continue working in computer science next year here at Brentwood and at Steel Center ,” said Rai .
Pierce plans to submit student work to the competition again in the spring .
The virtual teaching and learning , which offers both in school and afterschool opportunities , takes place at the
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Brentwood High School library . The elementary schools will be replaced soon , so the district wanted to establish a more permanent location before the construction of the new school . This is why the MS / HS library was selected and renovated . Students at that building will be able to use the space during the day .
“ We didn ’ t feel like it was financially responsible to invest money into redoing a space in those buildings that aren ' t going to exist for very long , so being that we are a walking district , and elementary age kids can come up here afterschool quite easily , we thought that is would be okay to have the site here , and have that program afterschool here ,” said DeLuca .
“ I am excited to use the space for my middle school STEM club , we have several projects planned for this year and we could use the space to collaborate ,” said teacher Jaime Staab .
Right now , the Studio has 30 iPads to aid with innovative programming and to connect the elementary students with pre-service teachers at Penn State . Brentwood school teachers met during a professional development session to discuss the space , and to decide on what additional technologies will be needed to be most impactful .
“ We are trying to create during the school day opportunities for other teachers to do different types of thinking with you all ,” said DeLuca .