Tuesday, June 11, 2019 | Lafayette, Wing Luke, and Loyal Heights Elementary Schools at a Microsoft Coding Workshop | by Greg S.
On May 16th, a group of 4th and 5th grade girls and non-binary students from three elementary schools (Lafayette, Wing Luke, and Loyal Heights) arrived at the Microsoft campus in Redmond for a Microsoft Coding Workshop!
During their visit, each girl was given a Surface laptop to work with while learning coding fundamentals using Small Basic. All students created a turtle and a maze, and then programmed the turtle to successfully move through the maze!
After enjoying lunch, the girls had to opportunity to meet with a panel of women at Microsoft who work in STEM to learn about their career choices. Many thoughtful questions were asked by the girls, ranging from “What do you like about working at Microsoft?” to “How and when did you become involved in programming?” Each answer was thoughtfully addressed by the panel speakers, and the whole group left the day feeling inspired.
Back at school, students reflected on their experience at Microsoft. Many students expressed an increase interest in the programming field and all students felt they had a better understanding of coding. It was great to see such enthusiasm from our students and the panel at Microsoft! The swag bags the girls received were pretty cool too 🙂
Many thanks to the great team at Microsoft and Ignite for making this trip such a success!
Here's what the students enjoyed most:
"I liked coding and asking questions. It inspired me by encouraging me to code. I now want to work at Microsoft."
- 4th grade
"I enjoyed getting the turtle through the maze. It inspired me by changing my mind about coding."
- 4th grade
"I enjoyed learning more about how to code and the event inspired me to look more into engineering and coding."
- 4th grade
"I enjoyed doing everything on the computers."
- 4th grade
"I enjoyed making the turtle go through the maze. The people who work there inspired me by talking about how fun the job is."
- 4th grade
"It inspired me because I enjoyed learning about it."
- 4th grade
"I liked coding. I'm willing to do it at home!"
- 4th grade
"I really liked the coding part and learning more about coding."
- 4th grade
"All of the stories of the employees."
- 4th grade
"I enjoyed making the turtle move. It inspired me by figuring out that you can program computers to annoy your siblings."
- 4th grade
"The coding, and how I actually knew how to do it."
- 4th grade
"I enjoyed moving the turtle. I want to look more into coding."
- 5th grade
"It was very interesting. I liked coding the turtles."
- 4th grade