Computer Science is flourishing at CA! With an incredible number of yearlong courses and trimester electives, CS is stronger than it’s ever been at our school. We have many students interested in coding and taking as many of our offerings as possible. That makes me feel very good about the growth of our program and the extent to which computer science education has become more accessible to more students.

 

Another source of pride is our commitment to girls being in these classes. Traditionally, this field has been a bastion of male dominance and the source of outright sexism. But in the Upper School, the gender balance is very strong. It helps that we have always had a strong presence of women instructors. Kimberly Jans has been in charge of our program for twenty years, teaching multiple APs and other high-level courses, while mentoring all students. For many years, Jan Beattie was our Director of Technology, one of the few women in that administrative role anywhere in the country. Jennie Kies has worked with all the Middle Schoolers in the past few years, as well as teaching Upper School students in a brand-new cross-disciplinary class this year. Erin Gray has taught electives in data sciences, and next year Martha Smith will be teaching a course titled Python for Biologists.

 

To support these efforts, the school has been involved with the National Council for Women in Technology (NCWIT) for many years. As part of that connection, the NCWIT offers Aspirations in Computing awards annually to girls who code. On Saturday, February 27, six students attended an awards reception over Zoom, hosted by Colorado School of Mines. Students got the opportunity to hear presentations from female representatives from tech companies in Colorado and live tech demonstrations by current CS@Mines students. Based on their achievements, this year’s honorees were: Seniors Catherine O’Halloran and Kendall Smart, Juniors Helen Blake and Morgan Taylor, and Sophomores Dori Beck and Maya Vendhan.

 

CA girls have been winning these awards since 2013! We have had a National Winner, as well as several National Honorable Mentions, over the years. Ms. Jans was also the recipient of the Colorado Educator Award in 2016.

 

Then, last Saturday, six students competed in the Fort Collins HP CodeWars competition. In the advanced category, the team of Seniors Colby Lish and Levi Pinkert and Junior Morgan Taylor took home First Place, while the novice team comprised of Sophomores Joe MacDougall, J.T. Timmers, and Maya Vendhan won Fourth Place.

 

In another competition, two other teams competed at a Colorado School of Mines coding contest. Senior Levi Pinkert and Junior Holden Koch finished with an honorable mention against some very tough teams from the region.   

 

Ms. Jans enjoys taking students to these contests, which “really provide them the enrichment and growth that they can’t be exposed to inside the classroom.” Certainly, the success our students are having is further proof of the overall power of this important academic program in the Upper School.