$10K award from Code.org given to Salem High 

Funds to be used for computer science classes

Aila Boyd

aboyd@mainstreetnewspapers.com

A check was presented last week to Salem High School’s Gary Lupton, a computer science teacher, from Code.org, in partnership with DonorsChoose. 

Salem High School was one of 102 schools throughout the country to receive the Computer Science Leaders Prize, which is designed to help further computer science education for students nationwide. The prize was given to one middle school and high school in each state, in addition to the District of Columbia. 

Lupton, who was surrounded by one of his computer science classes, received the check on Wednesday, Dec. 14. City officials, including Mayor Renee Turk, Councilman Bill Jones, School Board Chairman David Preston and Superintendent Curtis Hicks were in attendance. 

Scott Habeeb, principal, said, “Because of an application he submitted and the outstanding work that he is doing with our students and our students are doing, our school was selected as the recipient of a $10,000 grant to put towards computer science.” 

The funds will be used to purchase equipment, including computing devices, specialty tables and robots. “I’m excited to see how this makes a positive impact on our enrollment in CS courses and how that in turn gets more students excited about using computer science,” Lupton said. “The hope is that the classes will inspire more students to go on to study computer science and eventually work in a CS-related field.” 

Lupton explained a course titled “Computer Science Discoveries” will be offered next year for students who aren’t interested in computer science but are willing to learn more about the field. The funds will be used to help launch that course, in addition to help purchase items needed for Lupton’s existing courses. 

“I want to see even more of our students take computer science,” Lupton said. 

Habeeb added, “Dr. Lupton has gone above and beyond to make sure we really have a warm and inviting, challenging, inclusive environment for computer science.”