Cracking the code: Students unite in computer engineering

By Layla Burke Hastings
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SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — Nearly 600 students from Riverside Middle School, Springfield High School and surrounding schools connected to the River Valley Tech Center (RVTC) engaged in a lab workshop held at Springfield High School on computer coding, a language that is used by computer software to direct controls within the hardware and the data processing of computers.

Dubbed Morning of Code, this second annual event was kicked off in the auditorium with an introduction from Springfield High School Technology Integration Coach Colin McKaig, Dragonfly Designs owner Karen Longo, and Black River Innovation Campus (BRIC) Executive Director Trevor Barlow.

“We are here to show you what can be done with coding,” said Longo as she began telling the story of Bill Gates starting out in high school fascinated by computers and showing the audience her and her assistant Madison Moreau’s work in holographic imaging.

Barlow also invited the students in attendance to come to BRIC and explore all the opportunities available in computer science technology that is being developed at Dragonfly Designs.

“We love the internet, we love technology and we love entrepreneurship. That means looking at your world and seeing something and thinking it should be done differently; you try it and then people take it and give the idea legs,” Barlow said. “We have what’s called a venture capital fund. What that means is we have money to invest in you and other companies that are coming to Springfield.”

There is a network of local businesses connected to BRIC that also have technology based skill set requirements, according to Barlow.

“We already have companies that are located in Springfield that are doing really cool technology that you’ll hear about more in the future,” Barlow said. “So if you have a business idea, the cool thing about tech is that we don’t care how old you are.”

Barlow explained that BRIC is more than a think tank — it is an institution that has educational and financial outlets to help cultivate creative technology workforce.

“If you don’t have the whole idea that’s OK. But still come talk to us,” he said. “If you think you’re too young then we start by asking our parents, but at the same time we could give you money to test out your idea and we can help you figure out how to do that.”

Stella Coleman, a seventh grader at Riverside Middle School, is currently working on micro-bit coding, a command language that is often seen in light-up construction signs. Like beads, Coleman was pushing on a series of buttons creating dots that together were strings of commands through computer keystrokes together into a program which then illuminated a small circuit board with any shape or pattern she decided to map out.

“This used to look so hard. My parents both do things in computer technology and when I was really little this seemed so complicated. Now with it right here I can understand it and it’s making a lot of sense,” Coleman said in an interview with the Eagle Times.

Coleman has built more than a dozen games through her work at Riverside Middle School with her computer science teacher Heather Rogers.

Colin Lique, a freshman at Springfield High School who has been involved in computer science since he was eight, said the lab went really well.

“I was kinda stressed last night about how it would go today. It’s been great so far and I’m happy about that,” Lique said.

In an interview with the Eagle Times, McKaig explained this event as connected to an on-ramp into diverse levels of technology.

“We’ve got some innovative computer science classes happening at the high school. There is of course the RVTC so students can go across the hallway and get involved in the computer science program at the tech center. So we’re trying not to duplicate what they do, but also augment what they do,” McKaig explained.

Workshops and labs such as the Morning of Code are intended to eventually come in layers through the school grade levels, according to McKaig.

“What we’re working to do here in the Springfield School District is build the on-ramp for the kind of work that is ultimately going to happen at BRIC, the kind of innovative thinking, the kind of entrepreneurial ideas and the kind of development that is already in the minds of our students,” he said.

The opportunities in the last decade have more than tripled access to computer sciences starting in Riverside Middle School, RVTC and Springfield High School. And with the addition of the BRIC institution, the town of Springfield is now rated by Gov. Phil Scott as an “opportunity zone.”

“There’s really interesting things in robotics,” McKaig said. “There are really interesting activities regarding computational thinking that are on paper and so we’re trying to sort of push the curriculum down gradually from high school to middle school and eventually in elementary school and level it out so every year students are a little better prepared with a few more skills.”

Chris Maggiolo, manager at BRIC, said there were two moments he described as inspirational to his work.

“It is truly incredible to witness the extent to which technology has been integrated into education, especially when considering the magnitude of technology and equipment present at RVTC. Those programs are really, really impressive,” he said, “Secondly, as we engaged students throughout the morning, there were several instances when we were approached by students who wished to learn more about opportunities in game design, coding, digital art and more.”

Barlow, also a Springfield High School alumnus, noted that he was inspired by the surroundings of the morning workshop.

“Getting asked questions by students who are interested in coding or understanding what it means to be an entrepreneur while we were out roaming the halls,” Barlow said. “Being able to announce our Gaming Tournament and Digital Festival that is happening August 21 through August 23 with a $25,000 cash prize and have students ask about it… That’s a big win in my book.”