FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE JCBOE & Open JC Partner for the 2014 Hour of Code Event Jersey City, NJ - December 8, 2014 – The Jersey City Public Schools, in partnership with Open JC will be widening opportunities for over 1700 Jersey City middle school students through The Hour of Code. The Hour of Code, which will be celebrated in Jersey City on December 11th, is an event held around the world empowering tens of millions of students in over 180 countries by introducing them to computer coding. Middle School students at MS #4, MS #7, MS #40, Academy 1 and Infinity, over 1700 in all, will participate in Hour of Code activities. They will be supported by close to fifty Open JC volunteers with professional technical skills who will facilitate the programs and help students develop new skills and awareness. Working with principals and teachers from each of the participating schools, Open JC will provide three options developed by Code.org. Beginners will be introduced to computer science concepts like loops and conditional statements through a game. Students who are more familiar with computers will be introduced to HTML which is used in web design, while more advanced students will be introduced to Java Script. Each school has developed different schedules for the Hour Of Code with MS#40 students participating on the morning of December 11th, where the Hour of Code will be honored with a celebration featuring Open JC th Leadership Team - Emmanuel A. Simon, Anna Lukasiak and Akisia Grigsby as well as Superintendent Lyles and elected officials.) c elected offici#7 and Infinity will participate throughout the day on the 11th while Students at MS#4 and Academy 1 will participate in an hour of code throughout the week. The global event is part of an effort to close the diversity gap in technology fields by introducing more minorities and girls to coding earlier in their education. Workers in computer science fields are only 18% female, 3% black and 8% Hispanic, but last year almost half the Hour of Code participants were girls and 22% were Black or Hispanic. The event seeks to close this gap by increasing access to information and training for underrepresented groups by engaging such students in coding before high school. The event also helps demystify coding by teaching students what it is and how it works. Over 100 partners, CEOs, celebrities and the President have come together to support this grassroots campaign, including Boys and Girls Clubs of America, College Board, Microsoft, Amazon and more. President Obama, Shakira and Ashton Kutcher all kicked off last year’s Hour of Code with video messages. And this year, our Mayor Steven M. Fulop and Superintendent Marcia Lyles, have kicked off their Hour of Code with video messages. Tech titans Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey, Susan Wojcicki and Gabe Newell all connected with classrooms in live video chats. The Hour of Code is the first partnership between the Jersey City Board of Education and Open JC. Open JC is a hands-on, active, local community group collaborating with the residents and government of the City of Jersey City to build open data, open source and open government. They believe in public sector innovation and the value of digital-government projects. Open JC is a member of the Code for America brigade program. Their leadership team includes Anna Lukasiak (Co-founder), Stephen Musgrave (Co-founder), Emmanuel A. Simon (Delivery Lead) and, Akisia Grigsby (Marketing, Communications & Community Outreach) and James Solomon (Policy Evangelist & Government Liaison). Code for America is a non-partisan, non-political 501 organization founded in 2009 to address the widening gap between the public and private sectors in their effective use of technology and design. For more information on the Hour of Code or to participate as a volunteer please visit: openjerseycity.org/HourOfCode or openjerseycity.org. Contact: Dr. Maryann Dickar Chief of Staff, Communications Director [email protected] Jersey City Board of Education 346 Claremont Avenue 201-915-6210 Nov. 13, 2014 - Jersey City Hour of Code PSA with Mayor Steven M. Fulop https://youtube/watch?v=AwiRP4yTUzY
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 01:08:17 +0000
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