Please watch our video to learn about the revolution in Mississippi to bring equitable access to computing education to all Mississippi citizens! I am Sarah Lee, a native Mississippian, who returned to my roots after a career in industry to engage our youth with computing and encourage them along educational and career pathways.  United we stand, Together we'll rise!

Thanks for this video, it's important work. Given your interest in the workforce impact, do you focus more on high-school than on the lower grades?  

   Also, I was wondering if you have any particular outreach to the Choctaw people, for whom this program might be very valuable?

Great Video and Initiative! Diversity in CS is needed--I agree with Brian Drayton though--we need something local for the Choctaw Indian Reservation. I teach Computer Science at East Central Community College and we have zero Native American engineers <or> computer science majors (we graduated our only one this Spring sending her to Miss. State). 

Thank you for the video! You are doing important work!  Have you encountered challenges recruiting students for the Mississippi Coding Academy, or K-12 teachers and students to "explore computer science".  Could you say a little more about the work you are doing with K-12 teachers.  Thanks!

We have had some challenges in more rural areas recruiting for the initial coding academy cohorts. The concept is new and many are unsure about this unconventional path until success can be demonstrated. Having industry backing and commitment from the onset is a plus; students know that they have opportunities for employment after completing the program because of that commitment.

Our Bulldog Bytes K-12 student outreach program was founded in 2013, and teacher professional development was added in 2015.  For the student outreach activities, we had to recruit the first year but have had to turn away students every year since.  We always have a waiting list for teachers to attend the teacher PD. In addition to the teacher workshops in the summers, we bring the teachers back to campus with some of their students to showcase their work during the academic year. Preliminary evidence indicates that teachers from a variety of disciplines are engaged and learning computer science in the context of their current subject domain. I believe strongly that to engage youth in CS we need to meet them where they are (in the context of subjects they are already comfortable with), and I believe the same holds true for teachers.  Teachers can develop self efficacy and skill sets in CS in the domains that they are already confident in. We don't have to 'pull them out' of their comfort zone and send them to CS training....we just need to meet them where they are.

Thanks for the video, a wake up call for enfranchising a generation to develop computer science skills. In our experience in underserved communities, empowering teens to solve real problems, then providing rigorous opportunities to gain the computational skills to address them is a winning combination and helps them persist in the STEM ecosystem. Would like to hear more about, on the one hand, what your strategies are for getting young people involved in CS, and how do you retain them, or help them succeed in higher ed.

Thank you for sharing this video - this work is much needed to empower and nurture the youth and workforce in Mississippi with critical STEM skills! I think it's wise to bring on board industry partners from the outset to assure employment opportunities to students. Can you say more about the role of the industry partners in this effort? For example, do the students enrolled in the Coding Academies interact directly with workplace professionals during the 11month immersive program? I can imagine that STEM professionals in local work settings may serve as rich, real-world "models" of what it looks like to engage in computing-based careers. Would love to hear your thoughts about this!

Good work. Love the state-wide approach.

We are working at the K-12 level in Chicago Public Schools and have made CS a grad requirement but we are also thinking about how to scale this at the state level. It takes a village !

http://stemforall2018.videohall.com/presentatio...

 You outlined the problem brilliantly and provided a clear vision for your consortium of organizations. I definitely want to learn more. I have been exploring https://www.bulldogbytes.online/ and The Mississippi Alliance for Women in Computing and https://www.mscoding.org/. Congratulations on your partnerships and thank you for sharing your video!