Digital Technology / Computing
Game
Pwns
of
http://dowse.org.nz/exhibitions/
detail/arcade-homegrown-video-games
S
enior Computing students have had a busy
2013. The COM classes visited the “Arcade”
exhibition which showcased NZ talent, on our
own door step, at The Dowse. The Y13s went to
Te Papa’s “HP Digital Media Careers Day” along
with the “Game Masters” exhibition, which featured speakers from Auckland’s Media Design
School and Wellington’s sucessful mobile software company PikPok. They have learnt a range
of topics, from desktop publishing and graphic
design to the ins and outs of database admin and how to
code websites using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. All very
technical stuff but it was made interesting and accessible thanks to websites like CodeAvengers.com.
Our dedicated department has taken
tonnes of PD from Yoobee to upskill and
plan for the new and more testing topics.
Many thanks to Google for sponsoring CS4HS (Computer
Science for High Schools) to enable Professors Peter Andrea and Tim Bell from Victoria and Canterbury Univesities to teach our teachers how to deliver CS and programming to our boys.
Forbes reports that CS and IT are vital
to the world’s top ten best paid and
most in demand jobs. To help the boys
see the potential of Computing and to boost their future
careers we were pleased to welcome speakers from
industry, as part of the IITP’s ICT-Connect programme.
Guests from Kiwi Bank and TVNZ talked about their own
career experiences of well-paid, interesting and
challenging IT work that
has taken them around the
globe.
We were warmly welcomed
to Victoria University twice.
The first time we took a bus
load of Y12s to the open day.
The second, a selective group
attended the Wellington Engineering Hui which showcased
freaky physics and cool robotics projects from Weltec and
Victoria University’s CS students. We very very impressed
by James McVay (son of Mr McVay) who designed and
made a robotic bass guitar player.
See: www.engineering.geek.nz for more info.
St Bernard’s College 2013
ICAS Success
This year 37 students from Years 7 to 9
participated in the 2013 Computer Skills
ICAS competition. The following students
produced an outstanding performance in
the examination and gained a Distinction
grade (after his name is his position
against all other NZ candidates).
Year 9: Chenchen Huang gained the
unique award of High Distinction placing
him in the top 1% of all candidates.
Elisha Alasdair Day (Top 9%), Mat