Students across the Northeast Catholic District School Board got in some coding this past week as part of a global initiative.

Teacher Andrew Swartz says each student participated in at least an hour of coding. Swartz says the goal is to expose students to computer sciences as a potential career choice.

“Technology is a big part of (the world we live in),” he said, “Coding is a big deal these days and there’s just not enough people entering computer science and computer programming.”

It is estimated that there will be nearly 1 million unfilled computer science jobs by the year 2020.

“It’s actually not that difficult,” he said, “I think part of the Hour of Code, the aim is to demystify that and make people realize it’s not that difficult and this may be something they want to explore as a career or just a hobby they can get into.”

He says everything has code in it, from phones to computers to cars and microwaves.

He says the reception was so fantastic, everyone at the Board Office—from the Director of Education to custodians—even got some coding in.

“When I first told (the Board) what we were going to do, I got some stinky looks but five minutes into it, they were all enjoying it and all loving it.”

Swartz adds it’s one of the “coolest things we’ve ever done at Northeastern Catholic.”

He says parents have stopped him in the street to tell him how engaged students have been.

The “Hour of Code” has become a global movement with the hopes of having over 10-million students participate in over 100 countries around the world.

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