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In case you haven't heard, there is this little thing called Computer Science Education Week which supports our industries effort to get more computer science education happening for kids in the K-12 grade range. Please visit the Computer Science Education Week for all of the deals, or take my word that this is an important initiative!

To support this initiative and provide resources on a year-round basis, there is the Code.org organization! To take a snippet from their website:

Launched in 2013, Code.org® is a non-profit dedicated to expanding access to computer science, and increasing participation by women and underrepresented students of color.

Ok! This sounds like another good thing! A whole organization trying to expand access to computer science education!

Put the two of these things together and we get The Hour of Code, a movement that provides 1 hour computer programming tutorials for all age groups in 45 different languages. And during Computer Science Education Week, which run from December 5-11, 2016, The Hour of Code movement issues a challenge to reach as many children as possible during the week with these 1 hour tutorials!

This is where I'm laying down my challenge to all of my fellow WD members!

For the last 2 years, I've participate in the CSED Week! In year one, I spent 1 hour with 12 kids at the Boys and Girls Club of Calgary! Last year, I was able to get into my sons' school and spent 1 hour with a a Gr. 2 and Gr. 4 class! It was a fantastic experience and I've already started the process of getting organized with the schools again this year!

My Challenge to WesternDevs

I am challenging all of my fellow WesternDevs to arrange 1 Hour of Code event! This can be with their kids' schools, a local kids club, or event a public event inviting kids to attend!

I'm issuing his challenge because there are logistics and permissions that sometimes need to be arranged and this should give my fellow WD more than enough time to get these things sorted out!

I'm also willing to put up a bounty! For every WD member who performs 1 or more sessions, I will donate $100 CAD to Code.org® to support this organization! In order to claim the bounty, there will need to be:

1. Blog post talking about the event
2. Picture with the organizer (permissions allowing)

So there it is! My challenge! I hope this encourages all of the WD (and anyone who follows us) to get involved with this fantastic opportunity to give back to the community and our children. I'll look forward to seeing all of your posts in December!