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January 22, 2019Students Learn the Keys To Coding As They Design A Bright Future Through P-TECH
Students in the new Capital Region BOCES Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) east campus in Watervliet are learning how to create computer code in a project that will eventually give them the tools to create their own websites.
The project launched recently with teacher Matt Battiste explaining the process behind bringing to life a website. Students in this instance are creating a site to house their sports management midterm reports.
With coding considered one of the most in-demand skills in technology according to industry publication Network World, the students are being given a head-start on creating a portfolio of work skills that will make them extremely employable when they graduate.
“It’s cool because I am learning how to make a website. This is information I am going to need to know to accomplish my career goal of designing video games,” said Watervliet freshman Phoenix Tobin.
Fellow Watervliet freshman Teaghan Rockenstire also sees the “grand picture” when looking at the blackened computer screen with various characters and commands on it.
“I want to one day own my own business and now a days you need to have a website if you are going to succeed in doing that,” she said.
For aspiring R&B and Hip Hop musician Sha-Quan Jenkins, the computer coding lesson hits all the right notes.
“I like that we are learning how to make a website because that can be useful to help market yourself and get your music out there,” he said. “I want to use these skills to market my music and help me prepare it.”
P-TECH is an innovative four- to six-year program (grades 9-14) offered to students throughout the region through a consortium that includes Capital Region BOCES, the Capital Region Chamber, Hudson Valley Community College and SUNY Schenectady County Community College. The program has two campuses – east campus is at Watervliet High School, west campus at the Center for Advanced Technology at Mohonason – and provides pathways for students to earn free college degrees in Computer Science, Computer Information Systems and Cybersecurity.
The P-TECH curriculum focuses on engaging students in hands-on, project-based learning – such as coding – to be successful in careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and providing students with workplace skills that will ensure success, no matter the career path they are applied to. Through the program, business partners provide students access to cutting-edge technologies and innovations that allow them to see the real-world application of the knowledge they are gaining at P-TECH.
Applications are being accepted now for 2019-20 school year. For more information, go to https://www.capitalregionboces.org/capital-region-p-tech/.
