Darian Bell

COURTLAND

On Feb. 4, Southampton Middle School had its first Code to the Future showcase, in which sixth through eighth graders displayed their coding projects they completed on for the first half of the school year.

Sixth and seventh grade science classes learned the foundational concepts of the computer languages HTML and CSS, which is a programming language used to add content, information and style to their web pages. Their website was created based on a topic within their science curriculum.

Eighth grade students learned block-based coding through a program called Scratch within their Career Investigations classes. Scratch introduced them to the world of programming using blocks as well as an outlet to express creativity.

Their final project was to create a choose-your-own career game to share what they have learned about careers in their classes. Each option leads a player down a different career path by creating sequences of code that include loops and logic statements. The students are able to create awesome projects right now, learning these computer science and life skills in middle school is setting them up for success in high school and beyond.

The Code to the Future program is helping students build the technical and social foundation that will help them to be successful in and out of the classroom.