Game on! Raspberry Pi Inspires High Schoolers at MTSU Coding Camp
While other high school students lounged by the pool, soaked up some sun or rested for the upcoming school year, Kira Boles of Oakland High School in Murfreesboro learned how to make raspberry pi. But it’s not the dessert people know and love.
In late June, Boles and other high schoolers were using their skills in computer science and engineering to code video games in a Kirksey Old Main computer classroom.
It was the university’s first year hosting a summer camp that involves game programming with Raspberry Pis, tiny and affordable high-performance computers to promote the teaching of basic computer science in schools.
MTSU Coding Camp encourages boys and girls who have an interest in computer science to receive hands-on experience from MTSU faculty and staff.
Each attendee learned how to assemble a Raspberry Pi, which is a microcomputer that operates all the functions of the gaming systems they were creating.
Since 2014, Boles has coded thanks to her mom signing her up at a young age for coding experiences. For as long as she can remember, the art of coding has stuck with her.
“I really enjoy it so I continued to do it throughout the years. Now I’d like to do something with it in college,” Boles said.
The rising senior added that engineering runs in her family, but she sees herself going in a different direction.
“I want to do cyber security. I really want to protect people against cyber threats and cyber attacks,” Boles explained.
Although that is what she sees herself doing in the future, first-time camper Boles mentioned being able to discover and play with the technology the program provides is nothing short of amazing.
“I love that we can make our own games. That’s my favorite thing,” Boles added. “I’ve been into making games, but I wasn’t completely sure if that’s what I wanted to do. Now it’s something I’d like to do on the side.”
MTSU has held coding camps for three years, offering students the opportunity of learning how to code on several different platforms including HyperText Markup Language, or HTML, the standard language to create Web pages; Scratch, a free programming language and online community where participants can create their own interactive stories, games and animations and now a gaming software that creates similar functions to the game Asteroids.
“I’ve always been interested in coding. I just didn’t know where to start,” said David Bystrom, a Blackman High School student.
First-time camp instructor Neal McClain, director of library technology in the James E. Walker Library, led the camp with the assistance from Department of Computer Science Chair Chrisila Pettey.
“They get to keep their Raspberry Pi,” McClain said. “The idea is that they learn some basic programming skills and get some exposure to a field they may or may not find themselves interested in down the road. A lot of these high school students are interested in video games.”
Organizers of the camp, which is sponsored by the Rutherford Chamber of Commerce, highly recommend high school students with an interest in computer science apply next year.
