AP Comp Sci Visits Google

Students learned about colleges in small groups. Photo Credit: Ihtsham Chaudhry

By IHTSHAM CHAUDHRY and HONG WEI CHEN

Taking AP classes turns out to give you more perks than just college credits, but also the opportunity to learn beyond the classroom setting. AP Computer Science A classes took a trip to Google’s headquarters in Chelsea on April 18 to learn more about colleges, careers, and technology in general from industry professionals and college representatives. 

At the event, professionals from different industries shared stories about how they overcame challenges they faced growing up as minorities and how they succeeded in their industries. 

“I learned about the obstacles that may come up in the technology career,” said Anowarul Azim ’19. “Becoming aware of them ahead of time will give me an advantage.”

After the presentation, students broke up into groups to attend different activities and to have a quick lunch break. One group of students got to chat with representatives from Binghamton University, St. Francis College, Harvard University, and New York Presbyterian Hospital.  

Shayan Ali ’20 said, “I was able to meet representatives from the New York Presbyterian Hospital and know how they use technology to help cure serious diseases.” 

The other student group was presented with coding challenges from Microsoft. Students get to learn about block-based coding on code.org to got themselves familiarized with basic programming concepts. 

“Being able to use what we learned in computer science class helped me able to do the Code.org activity,” said Cathy He ’19.  The Code.org activity was since it was taught and used in the 2018 first annual Hackathon at Midwood. 

This event was sponsored by the Catalyst Network Foundation, a nonprofit organization that invests in high-potential youth through mentoring and career development.

Justin Chung ’20 said, “I would like to thank Mr. [Albert] Peterson and Mr. [Samuel] Keener for giving us an wonderful opportunity to visit Google and meet professionals in the technology field. I was able to start my planning [on] what colleges I would apply [to] in my senior year.”

“This event was fun and interactive at the same time because we were able to meet people from different companies but also meet other high schoolers [from Brooklyn Tech] who shared similar career interests,” he said.