St. Charles Community College STEM Efforts Recognized

Published: 12/19/2016

In coordination with Hour of Code Week 2016 in early December, the St. Charles County Government recognized St. Charles Community College for offering free, introductory workshops on computer programming every month at the Missouri Job Center of St. Charles County.

“The ability to understand and engage in coding, or computer programming, is becoming an increasingly important aspect of successfully competing in the global economy of the 21^st century,” St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann said in a proclamation issued at the Nov. 28 County Council meeting.

Ehlmann presented SCC administrators and faculty with a proclamation recognizing SCC’s partnership and participation in the national Hour of Code initiative, a nationwide yearly event to interest students in computer programming and other STEM-related fields. 

In the past year, SCC computer science faculty began offering sessions at the St. Charles County Workforce and Business Development Office. SCC conducted two sessions during Hour of Code week. SCC faculty Rex McKanry and Nancy Graviett also represented the college at the Missouri Job Center of St. Charles County for the IT Job Fair and Education event on Dec. 7.

“For the past semester I have been going once a month to the St. Charles County Department of Workforce and Business Development/Missouri Job Center of St. Charles County offices to do an introduction to coding,” said McKanry, assistant professor of computer science. “Sometimes I have students come to help out with the attendees. These sessions cover how to create a basic calculator using the Python programming languages.”

“We love that SCC’s Computer Science Department has played such a big role in the Hour of Code Week,” said Andrea Bemis, vice president at Unidev, a software development, web design, online marketing and mobile development firm located in Chesterfield. “At Unidev, we know the importance of coding and STEM, and we’re proud to work with organizations like SCC that are bringing it to the community!”

SCC offers a wide variety of computer science certificates and degrees appropriate for students right out of high school and professionals who want to enhance their skills and industry marketability.

“We are proud to recognize St. Charles Community College and its Computer Science Department for being leaders in STEM Education and in local Hour of Code efforts,” Ehlmann said.

St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann (left) presents a proclamation to SCC faculty and administrators in support of the college’s contributions to the Hour of Code initiative. From left: Rex McKanry, assistant professor of computer science; Lauren Dickens, interim dean of business, science, education, math and computer science; Amanda Sizemore, dean of corporate and community development; John Bookstaver, Ph.D., interim vice president for academic and student affairs; and Barbara Kavalier, Ph.D., SCC president.