WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — “Who has the duck?” asked one student. Seconds later, a response: “I have it.”
“Who has it now,” came another voice from the classroom at Hartford Area Career and Technology Center in White River Junction in June. Then silence descended as the students enrolled at a computer camp for girls camp all shook their microbits — a small programmable computer connected to laptops used for computer programming education — hoping the duck reappeared on one of them.
“The duck is stuck,” a student laughed. Time to reset on the count of three. Suddenly the duck appeared on a microbit and with a simple shake, the teleporting duck — which showed up as a series of small lights — popped up on another microbit and the game continued for several more minutes.
It was the fourth day of the camp in late June, led by Jeremy Ouellette, the information technology director at the Hartford Area Career and Technology Center.
Nine girls, rising seventh- to ninth-graders, learned some basic programming and Ouellette was hopeful they’d develop a long-term interest in computers and technology. Seated around tables arranged as a U, the girls each have microbit. The small devices are an aid that can help students learn coding, electronics and robotics more easily. The coding program language is from Microsoft and the hardware platform is the microbit, which is controlled by the program language, Ouellette explained.
As the students continued programming their microbits, Ouellette explained his reasoning behind the computer camp just for girls, which is in its second year.
“By doing this outreach and making these connections now, hopefully in a few years when considering applying to the tech center, we will have a group of girls interested,” Ouellette said.
As IT director at HACTC, Ouellette said he hoped more students enroll in his information technology course to keep it running year after year, so it makes sense to try to double the number of people interested. Last year, there were only two girls in his IT course and before that Bryanna Thurston, 20, a rising junior at New England College, who was assisting at the camp, was the lone female in Oullette’s IT course.
As the students listened to Ouellette instruct them on coding he projected onto a large screen, Thurston explained that students can program microbit — which has an LED light box — to do complete different tasks. That day at camp, students used the microbits to send the teleporting duck from one device to another simply by shaking it.
“It get the kids used to programming and they have to use programming to get it to work,” said Thurston, who is pursuing a degree in criminal justice with a minor in homeland security, including cybersecurity.
A lot of programming has many words and the user has to learn to type things in the exact right way, Ouellette said.
“The nice thing here with block-based coding, it is a pretty low barrier to entry,” he said. “With this platform there are lots of cool things you can do and they (students) get this immediate effect.”
Laura DeFelice, 12, of Canaan, talked about why she wanted to attend the camp.
“It is just cool to learn about computers,” Laura said as she held her microbit. “I like learning how to make programs on the computer and have it come up on the microbit.”
During the week, students also took a laptop apart to learn about the components; had a day focused on cybersecurity; and went on a field trip to Dartmouth College to tour the college’s supercomputer, as well as speak to women about careers in the field.
“We are taking male-dominated careers and bringing in more females to introduce them to programs … so we can get more girls interested and maybe eventually (they) will have jobs in that field,” Thurston said.
After the teleporting duck exercise, the students were given free time to work with their microbits.
Rorie McDowell, 13, who will be a freshman at Lebanon High School this fall, said she also took the course to improve her knowledge about computers and found the microbit a fun way to learn.
“The microbit is fun because you can make games on them and code them,” Rorie said, adding that her microbit had a dog that became sad when it was left alone, but she could push a bottom to take away the sadness.
Ouelette emphasized that the camps come with an economic benefit.
“These are fields where we really need people and right now half the brain power in the country is not being tapped,” he said. “It can help the local economy if we can get more people pursuing this field.”
Several students said they were not quite sure if computers would be in their plans as they enter high school, but for the time being, they were enjoying technology and the opportunity for creativity when coding.
Riley Piper, 11, who will be in seventh grade in Plainfield this fall, had combined her duck with some music.
“When you press A, it shows a duck and plays a melody,” Riley said. “I am trying to code other music to go with it.”
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
