Located in Frisco, iCode, the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) education program for kids in grades 1-12, kicked off National Engineering Week on February 19th with their FIRST ever graduation for students in third through seventh grade.
Students, their families and iCode executives celebrated the evening with a special ceremony and social event that included gaming and robotics games as well as a keynote presentation by Quotient CFO Jennifer Ceran on what it’s like to work in Silicon Valley.
Similar to martial arts, students’ mastery is represented by the color of their “belt,” or in this case, lanyards. Instead of moving a graduation tassel, 15 students earned their new colored lanyards, representing the next level in the program. The students shown moved up from White Belts and Yellow Belts. This means they have gained basic knowledge of computers, storyboarding, programming, robotics, HTML, and some are now diving into mobile app development, algorithms and Raspberry Pi. Kids may attend either afterschool or weekend classes at the Frisco iCode campus.
Careers in STEM are in high demand, but high school students show little interest. According to the National Math and Science Initiative, 2014, of the 15 major study categories, engineering has the highest median earnings, yet fewer than 20 percent of students choose a STEM path. When it comes to computer science, the stats are even lower. In fact, computer programming jobs are growing at two-times the national average, but fewer than 2.4 percent of college students graduate with a degree in computer science. iCode seeks to fill that gap with STEAM education for kids of all ages and skill sets.
iCode Website >
