By Angie Cirone
MRA Educational Foundation Director
I furiously used the up arrow to catch the mole running across the screen. Then the down arrow; and a quick right arrow. A middle school student coded a whack-amole game using Microsoft’s MakeCode Arcade during a Code a Carnival Camp at the NC State Kehoe Center in June. Soon after, laughter echoed down the hallway as the 25 students set up traditional carnival games enhanced with a micro:bit pocket-sized computer to make the game shake, light up, or keep score. Parents and community members played the carnival games and learned about the coding experience.
The Chamber’s Microsoft TechSpark grant funded the Code a Carnival Camp along with several other opportunities. Microsoft is investing in local ommunities across the U.S. and Mexico with the goals of fostering digital skilling and employability, broadband expansion, and helping organizations thrive. The Chamber is fortunate to represent Ohio in this fellowship. With the $100,000 investment over two years, our focus is computer science education, digital skilling, and career pipelines for local organizations.
During the 2023-2024 school year, we launched several K-12 initiatives including:
• Girls Who Code community partnership that allows schools and organizations to access curriculum and resources for 3rd-12th grade coding clubs. Sign-up is free at girlswhocode.com/apply. So far, we have 37 students enrolled across three clubs in Richland County.
• Career Pathways in Technology workshop between ES Consulting and Ontario High School that can be replicated for other districts.
• 179th Cyberspace Wing Electronics for Beginners Camp for 13 high school students. Students learned Arduino programming and used a kit to program fans, security systems, and light switches, for example.
• Shawshank Showdown presenting sponsorship which introduced FIRST Robotics to Richland County through a high school competition with 19 teams from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan with 5 to 15 students each. Elementary and middle school programs were included as well.
• Support of Richland County’s Teacher Technology Bootcamp in partnership with Mid-Ohio ESC and Ashland University. 10 teachers visited six technology-oriented businesses and presented how they will
incorporate technology into their curriculum.
A cybersecurity speaker series and certificate are in development with the Ohio State University at Mansfield to help community members understand the citizenship and economic impacts of cybersecurity on Richland County.
We’re seeing businesses become engaged with our initiatives and students become more aware of the many technology pathways available to them. We are interested in working with additional partners for the 2024-2025 school year. Let’s work together to invest in computer science education and digital skilling to develop pipelines of talent and a thriving local economy.