City Year Detroit Connects with Code

There are nearly 700,000 open computing jobs in the U.S. but only 80,000 computer science students graduated into the workforce last year. It’s time for us to catch up to the 21st century. We know that regardless of what our students do when they grow up, whether they go into medicine, business, politics or the arts, knowing how to build technology will give them confidence and a competitive edge.

The Hour of Code takes place each year during Computer Science Education Week, which is held annually, typically in December, in recognition of the birthday (December 9, 1906) of computing pioneer Admiral Grace Murray Hopper. This year the City Year Detroit team at Noble Elementary-Middle School partnered with our partners at Comcast to take part in this global event. More than 200 students in grades three-eight took part in the event as an elective during computer class. The younger grades created monsters and designed dances for their characters. Older grades created more intricate code, building on their years of Hour of Code experience. Overall, Minecraft game coding was one of the most popular activities this year. Comcast supported the weeklong event by providing fun prizes for the students including notebooks, pens, flashlights, speakers and travel cups.

“Some of our students have become so proficient at coding that they run their own gaming servers and make money in their spare time by managing the server. It’s great to see them able to apply these skills! The students really liked the speakers and the flashlights.”
-Dr. Wiz, Noble Elementary-Middle School, partner computer teacher

City Year Detroit and our committed partners support Hour of Code during this global movement each year; however, HourofCode.org is available year-round. If you are interested in participating in Hour of Code or want to use the free resource at home, you can learn more here!

City Year Detroit Hour of Code events were proudly supported by our partners at: