ORANGE, NJ — The technology coordinator of Park Avenue School in Orange, Denise Harlem, submitted an application and was selected as the one school in New Jersey to receive a $10,000 award — one school per state, one of 51 awards, including Washington, D.C. — from Code.org. Code.org has started an international movement to expose students and adults to “coding.”
The movement — the Hour of Code — has sparked interest in the White House, with President Barack Obama hosting participating students last year. Annually, Code.org engages schools and organizations in the Hour of Code, which takes place this year, from Dec. 7 to Dec. 13.
On Monday, Dec. 7, the check was presented to Park Avenue School at an assembly. In attendance, along with Harlem, were Superintendent of Schools Ronald C. Lee, Mayor Dwayne D. Warren, East Ward Councilman Kerry Coley, Supervisor of History/Social Studies and Technology Linda Epps, Park Avenue School Principal Myron Hackett and, representing Code.org for the check presentation, Nageswar Cherukupalli, associate vice president, Group Practice Engagement manager-Client Services-FSI, from Infosys, a major contributor to Code.org.
Four students, members of the school’s Coding Club, gave a demonstration of coding to the audience. Also, there were two brief video presentations, one featuring Obama promoting coding, the other showing Park students engaged in coding exercises.
Additionally, Hackett gave an overview of the importance of learning code and the benefits to the student in the future job market.
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