Free Programming Classes for Middle and High School Students

Posted on in Events

Tags: central florida, coding, education, orlando, programming, tech, ucf

My friend Rafael Gerena asked me to pass along this info about an opportunity for Orlando area middle and high school students to learn programming for free out at UCF. The first class has passed, but it’s not too late to sign up! Though I started programming at home with the help of my dad and 3-2-1 Contact magazine’s Basic Training in elementary school, my first “real” programming class was in middle school (Pascal at the time).

More details on this opportunity for middle and high school students in Central Florida below. (P.S. if you don’t have the ability to get out to UCF on Saturdays but have access to the Internet and a computer, there are lots of places you can learn to code online, including one of Orlando’s very own startups, Code School).

Junior Knights is a free program offered to area middle and high school students that introduces computer programming to those who don’t have courses at their own high school and allows students who have programmed before to improve their skills.

Saturdays 10AM – 1PM
Sept 24, Oct 1, 8, 22, 29, Nov 5, Dec 3, 10, 17

Students will provide their own transportation to/from UCF.
Students are expected to bring their own laptop to UCF.
Students who miss any of the Saturday sessions will need to make up the lessons on-line in order to keep up.
Students are aware that these class sessions do not result in any academic credit.

Past Junior Knights Students and Parents,

Dr. Lobo and I, with the help of other faculty (Mr. Kyle Dencker and Dr. Karin Whiting and potentially a couple others) will be offering Junior Knights this semester, our program with free programming sessions for area middle and high school students. I have included on this list every parent or student who’s signed up from the program from Spring 2014 on, so I realize that many of the students have moved onto college.

As usual, the sessions will be on Saturdays from 10 am – 1 pm on UCF’s campus and students will need to bring their laptops.

The dates for this semester are: September 24, October 1, 8, 22, 29, November 5, December 3, 10 and 17.

We will offer three courses: a Python class for beginners, a C class (for those who took Python or who are at least in Algebra II) and a Java class, which will reinforce material taught in the AP Computer Science A course. If we get participants interested in programming contests, I can do some separate lessons for those individuals as well.

The main Junior Knights page is here: http://www.eecs.ucf.edu/JuniorKnights/

To sign up for this semester, students should go here: http://www.eecs.ucf.edu/JuniorKnights/signup/

If you are interested in returning, please sign up! If you know of any other students who may be interested, please pass the message along to them. If you know of any teachers who may want to pass on the information to their students, please forward them this email. Also, please let anyone know they can email me [email protected] to ask further questions about the program.

Thanks so much for your time and hope everyone’s doing well!

Arup Guha