My fourth session of the day began with the premier of a short video from the Infosys Foundation USA’s #WhyIMake series featuring Nick Offerman of NBC’s Parks and Recreation talking about his woodworking hobby. The session was moderated by Dorothy Jones Davis, the executive director of Nation of Makers with panelists Mark Hatch, a pioneer...Read More

We broke for a quick lunch following session four and were joined at the table by Vandana Sikka, chairperson for Infosys Foundation USA and Code.org founder Hadi Partovi. It was so exciting to meet one of the visionaries behind the Crossroads conference and, on top of that, one of my personal heroes whose organization has...Read More

The last two sessions I attended featured representatives from Mississippi’s CS4MS initiative. Mike Mulvihill, the Career and Technical Education Director for the Mississippi Department of Education, was joined by Holly Lavender, STEM Education Lead in the Office of Innovation at the Ohio Department of Education, and Laura Hummel, Technology and Engineering Education Advisor for Curriculum, Instruction...Read More

During the final session of the day, Julie Jordan, director of the Research and Curriculum Unit (RCU) for Workforce Development, Vocational and Technical Education at Mississippi State University was joined by Devin Holmes of Big Sky Code Academy, a non-profit that is working to increase the tech talent pipeline in Montana. As Devin described the...Read More

After a full day of sessions about computer science and maker education, I was ready for a mental break and some good food. Dinner was held in a huge ballroom at the Moscone West Conference Center, where a selection of light-up wearables were available at the entrance. I chose a necktie with flashing LEDs because,...Read More

Kids Code Mississippi participated in the TECHJXN, the nation’s first combined summit and hackathon devoted to the issues of innovation and 
economic inclusion. The day-and-a-half-long event featured the largest youth computer hackathon ever to take place in Mississippi and a lineup of local and nationally recognized 
speakers addressing innovation and the opportunity to develop an...Read More