- CHK partnered with Accenture, Oklahoma City Public Schools and Junior Achievement Oklahoma to host an “Hour of Code” event on our OKC campus.
- Students participated in hands-on coding lessons, toured the Data Center and learned about career opportunities in tech and coding.
- The event brought over 50 students of various backgrounds to campus to show how computer science can improve our communities and the world.
On March 9, Chesapeake partnered with Accenture, Oklahoma City Public Schools and Junior Achievement Oklahoma to host an “Hour of Code” event on our corporate campus. Hour of Code is a national grassroots campaign that offers students a one-hour introduction to computer science.
Josh Hawthorne, Supervisor of Software Engineering, led the event that brought 52 middle school students to campus for a tour of our Data Center, hands-on coding lessons and lunch. The students also learned more about technology and coding careers.
“The event was important because computer science has not historically been a very diverse field. As someone who has been in it for a while, I was overjoyed to see so many young students from all backgrounds and genders explore their interest in STEM,” Josh said.
The IT department set up a computer lab for the students and guided them through coding games focused on environmental and social topics. For example, one game involved putting out forest fires and students learned coding concepts to build planes and put the fires out.
“Our hope was to make computer science as approachable as possible and create a fun way to teach these young students how this field can improve our communities and the world,” said Hawthorne. Adding, that he believes “everyone is a programmer at heart.”
