Hour of Code Field Trip

This morning, 400 junior high-aged girls came to the ALC to participate in a girls-only field trip to promote the Hour of Code and the CodeGirl movie. The girls participated by watching half of the film and participating in coding in the individual computer labs.

Principal Alan Ashton had this to say about the event: "As a school, the ALC is committed to helping all students achieve early college success.  We are thrilled to host this event for the young women in our district so they can see the opportunities that exist for them in the 21st century workplace.  How cool is it that we have filled a bus from every Jr. High with girls that want to be a part of the "Hour of Code". Next year we will have to do this over several days as the interest in STEM grows.   We look forward to hosting other events that will help young women see the many opportunities that exist for them in the world of STEM.  I appreciate the counselors and administrators from our Jr. Highs who have worked so hard to promote this and for Allison Hansen, Nebo STEM Grant Facilitator, for making all the arrangements."

As a teacher, I am always looking for authentic problem/project based opportunities for my students to strengthen their engineering and design skills. I recruited Ashley Brimhall, senior at Spanish Fork HS, and Amanda Olsen, junior at Maple Mountain HS to brainstorm some ideas for the event. Brimhall and Olsen brainstormed and created prototypes for an origami popcorn bowl to be used during the event. Brimhall also used her digital media experience to add graphics to the bowl. Brimhall then teamed with Samantha Hansen, junior at Maple Mountain HS, to create an instructional video showing the attendees how to fold the bowls. During the event, Ashley Brimhall, Amanda Olsen, Kasie Jones, Emme Gunther, Sunni David, Rebekah Hair, Kaitlin Draughton, Amberlee Marrott, & Kaitlyn Whitney all acted as ALC Ambassadors and helped the junior high girls get to the correct classrooms to code.