To celebrate the importance of coding, Seward County Community College participated in a nationwide “Hour of Code” week, from Dec. 4 to 10.

Led by Ed Hall, SCCC computer information science instructor, the college held two sessions aimed at students – one for elementary school and another for middle school. Both sessions were free and parents were allowed to participate as well.

Hall, who came up with the idea to participate, was pleased with the outcome.

“I think it went pretty fantastic,” Hall said, adding that the participants filled out a survey and each one was a positive response. “They enjoyed it, learned something and if we had it again, they wanted to come back.”

Hall believes that it’s important to expose younger students to coding to show them that coding is nothing to fear.

“You want to show to the kids that this is fun and cool,” Hall said.

The students were able to learn “hands on” the basics of coding and see how programs used codes to make them run.

Hall volunteered his time for the event and spent 10 hours preparing.

“It was definitely worth the time and effort. I was happy to do it and the college was great for letting me use their facilities and resources.”

More hour-long coding sessions could be in the cards for next year.

“I would like to do some more sessions next year,” Hall said. “I would like to do an hour class in February, March and April and this time also have a class for high school students.”

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