App inventor workshop at GW High School

Cora Monokandilos | January 16, 2019
Categories: Insights

Ninth grade students in five of Mrs. Borow’s College and Career Prep classes at George Washington High School in San Francisco created their version of Snapchat this past Fall using App Inventor. Mission Bit staff and volunteers provided students with an overview of their educational and career backgrounds while offering early on advice on picking colleges.

Prior to building their version of Snapchat students participated in an ice breaker, where they each created an identity map to reflect on who they were and what they cared about. One student, Elijah, raised his hand and stated, “I like basketball and I care about my mom.” Other students named women’s rights, pollution, limate change, etc. Each student’s interests and experiences were unique and will serve them well if they choose to create an app someday to create positive changes in their community and around the world.

   

When asked about the workshops several students stated it was “cool,” “fun,” and “interesting.” Leon, 15-year-old Freshman at George Washington High School stated, “I’ve worked with code before and I like the instant gratification, [with] C++ and Python you don’t get the immediacy as with App Development.” Leon wants to pursue a Computer Science major in college and hopes to get into the AI/Networking field and build a cluster computer someday. Another student stated, “The workshop was fun and a lot easier than I expected.” From the middle of the classroom, another student was heard telling a classmate, “Wow! I’m actually getting really good at this.”

Our team at Mission Bit looks forward to returning to Mrs. Borow’s class next semester, Spring 2019 and we’re happy to announce that we will now be offering a Web Design 101 course at George Washington High School starting this February. To sign up, please register here.

If you’d like Mission Bit to bring a workshop to your school and/or community center please email christina@missionbit.org. You can also learn more about Mission Bit by clicking here.