The future is coding! Thanks to the Alice and Eugene Ford Foundation and Boolean Girl, Brookland Manor is a part of it.
This month, the Alice and Eugene Ford Foundation and MidCity Development announced a new partnership with Boolean Girl, bringing after school clubs teaching computer science and engineering to students at Brookland Manor and Ward 5’s Noyes Elementary. The clubs are available to 3rd through 8th grade students for the entirety of the 2018-19 school year. The classes hope to enroll approximately 25 students. As part of the program, each student will receive a free laptop!
On September 27th, MidCity hosted a kickoff party to celebrate the partnership and enroll students at Brookland Manor. Despite pouring rain, more than a dozen students and the principal of Noyes elementary school came out to start their learning journey in computer science.
The Boolean Girl clubs at Brookland Manor and Noyes Elementary will start students’ education in computer science with Scratch. This introductory programming language was developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and uses graphical blocks to allow students to build interactive stories, animated videos, puzzles and games.
With Scratch mastered, students will turn to Python – an advanced language used in applications like Instagram and Amazon – and participate in projects in electronics, physical computing and more.
“This is exactly the type of community enrichment programing that Eugene Ford, Sr. sponsored his entire career,” said MidCity’s Director of Community Relations, Dr. Robert K. Johns. “We are thrilled to partner with Boolean Girl and proud to be supporting STEM education in Ward 5 – for our residents and the families served by Noyes elementary.”
“Boolean Girl was created to address the declining number of women and girls in science, technology and engineering jobs and we’re proud to be bringing that effort to Ward Five,” said Ingrid Sanden, co-founder of Boolean Girl. “This partnership with MidCity and the Alice and Eugene Ford Foundation will help bring the promise of STEM to boys and girls in DC who deserve an opportunity to learn and work with technology.”
The programs are made possible through a donation of $17,250 from the Ford Foundation, which supports the club’s operations and helps provide equipment.
