High school students in Greater Newark learn the power of tech skills at Rutgers University—Newark’s first Code Camp, a summer program sponsored by Apple.
20 students attended a camp called (G) Inertion Code, where they worked to design and build an app, gaining knowledge to spark and explore creativity in technology and other related fields. Students also spend time outside of the classroom, participating in outdoor activities and team-building exercises at camp, which ends in mid-August.
“Rutgers is committed to providing Newark and Greater Newark’s youth with technology, innovation and team building to equip and empower their futures with a progressive and productive summer,” he said. It will increase.”
As part of Apple’s Community Education Initiative, the company has provided Rutgers-Newark with hardware, scholarships and professional education and support for (G)Ineritation Code.
In addition to learning technical skills, students are encouraged to think about how their projects can solve problems and connect the community.
“At Apple, we believe coding is one of the most important skills a person can learn, and we believe all students should have the opportunity and opportunity to bring their ideas to life,” said Stacey Erb, director of Apple’s Community Education Initiative. “We are proud to partner with Rutgers-Newark to provide opportunities for students to learn these skills while developing new relationships and reflecting on their communities.”
Newark Science Park High School junior Hamza Waziri worked with his Code Camp classmates on an app that helps people find ingredients in local food pantries. “This allows us to do something for ourselves and for the people around us,” says Waziri, an aerospace engineer.
“Technology is in the future, and learning to code is very important, especially for the jobs you’ll be doing when you get out of school,” he said. “It’s important to learn these concepts now before I grow up.”
Lori Johnson, a senior at East Orange Campus High School, was struck by the diversity of the guest speakers, who reminded her that Silicon Valley’s demographics are changing. “It was great to see that there were women of color, not just women. It helped me feel like I wasn’t out in the world alone,” says Johnson, who plans to reunite with his fellow campers after high school.
Although she’s considering a career in fashion — she’s been working on an app to help with wardrobe planning — she said her ability to write code will help her gain a greater understanding of how to bring technology to consumers.
“It makes sense to have that skill in my back pocket,” Johnson added. “If I were to design an app myself, I would have that knowledge.”
She expressed her joy at seeing her project come to life. “When you go from a black screen with just words and lines and codes and up on the page, to know you’ve created something, it’s a great feeling.”
Tino Kumapele, Rutgers-Newark Computer Science Major and class instructor introduced students to the many ways coding can be used. “It’s very important in our time,” he said. “You can use it to do a lot of things. You can build games and apps, you can solve problems with code. You can go into software engineering, you can be a project manager, you can work in data science, you can work in cybersecurity. There are so many different paths.
