Coding Outside of Class

Pursuing STEM at CRLS

Cecilia Barron, Editor-in-Chief

On Wednesday afternoons in room 4402, students interested and dedicated to computer science can be found typing and coding away. Computer science teacher Doug McGlathery, who advises the club, says that while the group works on a variety of programs each month, their long term project is maintaining the online clock which works to the CRLS class schedule. Mr. McGlathery thinks the club is important for a host of reasons, but emphasizes the club’s civic connection: “The fact that we’re all carrying around computing devices in our pockets means that we’re all influenced and affected by the things that these devices do. … It’s important to understand how that stuff works.”

The club, however, is not just limited to computer science. “Anybody that comes to the club can bring their own set of interests to the club, and we most likely will explore those things together,” Mr. McGlathery says.

Faith Rounds, a sophomore in the club, says her favorite part is “being able to sit here and talk about techie stuff. You can’t do that everywhere.” Pratyush Venkatakrishnan, a freshman, agrees that his favorite part of Wednesday afternoons is “being around people with similar interests.”

Mr. McGlathery says he thinks it’s fun for students to problem solve: “It’s fun to make stuff and figure stuff out. … Once they get into this, they tend to kind of do it on their own.”

 

This piece also appears in our April 2019 print edition.