HOUR OF CODE check presentation last Thursday included Stevens Brook Elementary School Principal Cheryl Turpin (left), Laura Gurley-Mozie, Tech Integration Specialist and Hour of Code organizer (middle) and State Representative Phyllis Ginsler.

Computers are everywhere, but fewer schools teach computer science than 10 years ago.
Good news is, SAD 61 is on its way to change this. If you heard about the Hour of Code last year, you might know it made history. In one week, 15 million students tried computer science!
That’s why every student at Stevens Brook Elementary School joined in on the largest education event in history: the Hour of Code, during the week of Dec. 8-14. “Because of our commitment, we were the one school randomly chosen in Maine to receive $10,000 from Code.org to buy technology for our school for bringing these critical skills to our students,” reported Laura Gurley-Mozie, Technology Integration Specialist for the Lake Region School District. A total of 51 prizes were awarded, one to each state and to D.C.
The check presentation assembly occurred last Thursday, Dec. 11. State Representative Phyllis Ginzler presented Gurley-Mozie, organizing teacher for the Hour of Code, the $10,000 prize check. Ginzler spoke of on the importance of bringing computer science into schools. Other speakers included SAD 61 Technology Director Joshua Sturk and a former Lake Region District student, Kyle Perreault, who talked about how computer science is helping him to fight computer crime.
Mrs. Gurley-Mozie led a student demonstration of coding activities available on HYPERLINK "http://code.org/"code.org, the organization’s website.
Google, Microsoft, Apple, President Obama, Bill Gates, Shakira and Ashton Kutcher have all backed the Hour of Code. Over 100 partners came together to support this global movement. The Hour of Code movement aimed for 100 million students to be involved this year.
The Hour of Code campaign wants to prove that regardless of age, race or gender, anyone can learn how to not just consume, but build the technologies of the future.