BROOKS HILL – The James W. Curry Library in Brooks Hill has received a $4,500 grant to start a computer coding club.
Director and head librarian of the James W. Curry library Judith Williams said the grant is called the Code Club in Rural Communities Grant and it covers coaching, training and Prenda code club software for a year.
“This is the second year I applied for this grant, and this year I got it,” Williams said. “It’s very competitive for this grant, and the beauty of this is, it provides software that allows people to code and learn as we go.”
“You don’t have to have a degree in computer science to be able to make this program work for your library,” she added.
She said the library is hoping to actually start the club in February, but no exact date has been set yet.
“Being able to start something like this is not only a good introduction to computer science, but it’s also a great way to build activities in this end of the county for kids when they age out of things like family story time,” Williams said, “We’re looking to take the coding club, and build it into a robotics club for the older kids.”
She said they are also in the process of trying to collect hardware to use the software, such as tablets or laptops.
“Coding technology is where the jobs are going to be in the future, and the sooner kids get acquainted with coding and learn how to do things like build apps and make games and things they’re interested in while they’re young, the better prepared they’ll be to get jobs in the tech sector as young adults.”
Williams said members of the club will be able to log in to their accounts at home and continue their projects at home if they have internet connection. She also said they plan on offering another time for adults to learn coding.
“What we’re going to do is, we’re going to start with a program for the kids and get them started, and then we’ll have a different time for any adults who want to come in and learn coding because it won’t be limited to just children,” Williams said. “The software doesn’t limit us to just children. It’ll be open to anybody, but the actual code club will probably be geared for the kids.”
