Sampson Community College continues its support of Telamon Corporation’s Project IMPACT through career exploration for its middle and high school participants. The program is joint venture between Sampson Community College and Telamon. A significant part of the program for older youth is career exploration It gives students an inside view into the kind of programs the college has to offer and potentially a field of study and career.
Glenn Parker, a Hobbton High School science teacher and chaperone for the group says this week’s lesson may help them well into the future.
“Today, they are getting the chance to explore basic operating systems for computers,” Parker said. “This exposure will help many of them with computer skills. Some of them are gamers so they love this stuff.”
Students were able to create their own computer and operating system from a Raspberry Pi kit. Raspberry Pi’s are small single-board computers developed to promote the teaching of basic computer science in schools. The original model became far more popular than anticipated, selling outside its target market for uses such as robotics. About 20 million have been sold over the past few years.
“We are helping them create Raspberry Pi’s today,” says Nathan McKee, department chair of Computer Information Technology and Security at the college. “We want to get them excited about computer programming, networking and things that can be productive on the internet. This is important because they may not have this kind of access to technology normally but by giving them this access, maybe it will give them ideas about college and what they want to do in the future that they normally might not get.”
This week, besides the valuable hands-on training they receive, they will also take home a prize as well. They get to take Raspberry Pi’s with them. For more about Information Technology at SCC, contact Nathan McKee at [email protected].