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On Saturday, November 20, 2021, a group of 14 middle and high school students from Northern Granville MS and JF Webb HS had the opportunity to be junior computer scientists for the day.  Thanks in part to the generous work of Katabasis, a non-profit organization that focuses on bringing technology resources to students living in rural and low socioeconomic areas of North Carolina.

The day began at The Mary Potter Center for Education at 8:00am after biscuits with ‘icebreaker’ introductions.  Staff from Katabasis then  led the students through several activities which demonstrated the fundamentals of computer programming, including the concepts of sorting, sequencing and computational thinking. 

Joseph Wiggins, Katabasis Co-founder, assists 8th grader Braden with his build

Following the coding exercises, the team broke out the hardware!  Each student received an assortment of equipment and began building their own customized PC desktop computer.   Katabasis staff floated amongst the tables assisting with the step-by-step building process.  Students were also able to add special decorations and designs to personalize the device which they took home at the end of the day.  Every student sported a huge smile upon learning they were taking home their own customized, self-built PC computer for free!

Co-founder and CEO, Bill Causey, who led the event, had this to share, “It is very exciting to see the students get their hands inside the computers and learn that computers are not mystery boxes. Every student that attends these camps is able to build their very own computer and learns how to troubleshoot errors that might come up. We could not do these camps without the generous donations from businesses and individuals across eastern NC.” 

After lunch, the students booted up their computers and then began working on an educational computer game which simulated agricultural production yields using programmable drones running on code created by the students.   Pretty sophisticated work for these future computer scientists!

Volunteer Alison Shutterly assists a student with the finishing touches of final software installation

CTE Teacher Jan Lanier and District Testing & Accountability and STEAM Coordinator Amy Rice helped coordinate the event.  Mrs. Rice shared her thoughts, saying, “It was a joy to see the students that participated engaged and excited that they would be building a computer that would be their very own. Igniting an interest in computer science in these 6th - 9th graders may very well help start a student on a future career path. Knowing our schools offer courses to nurture their interests makes me very proud of our school system. To be a part of a one-day event that has the potential to impact a student so significantly is incredibly rewarding.” 

Students ended the day with a group shot proudly displaying their certificates of completion.  

THANK YOU to the team at Katabasis!  

Butner-Stem Middle School Soccer Champions 2021