Creating the coders of tomorrow

In this technology age, computers and other electronics will only become more prevalent in society. While most people know how to use computers, few know how they truly work.

About 90 Wantagh children and teens learned computer programming skills during the district’s second annual Tech Day on Jan. 10 at the high school. It was open to students in grades 5-12 and organized by Wantagh alumni Peter Mountanos and Dan Charytonowicz.

This year’s theme was “Learning to Code.” Students were broken into several groups where they were taught programming languages including Scratch, Python and Java. The teachers were all Wantagh High School graduates and one current senior. Mountanos built a group of instructors with an interest in programming. “I thought it would be a good idea to impart our knowledge of computer science,” he said. “Hopefully we can shape the future engineers of our country.”

Mountanos, a 2012 Wantagh graduate and a junior at New York University where he studies math and computer science, is also a member of the Board of Education. He started doing computer programming his sophomore year of high school. Mountanos said he was pleased that the number of students registered for Tech Day doubled from last year to this year.

Nick Carri, a sixth-grader, was happy to spend a Saturday in school learning about a computers. “My mom was telling me a lot of things you could do with coding,” he said, “so I thought it would be a good thing to learn. I thought it would be fun and it is.”

Carri, who learned some basic commands at Tech Day that allowed him to create simple movement, would like to use his new skills to make video games for himself and his friends to play.

Seventh-grader Kristina Fuchs attended with the hope of understanding the concept of computer programming. “It’s a life skill,” she said. “There are a lot of computers now.”

Kevin Pfundstein, a fifth-grader at Wantagh Elementary School, attended Tech Day for the second time. His computer programming skills earned him a special invite to last year’s program, and it also put him in a class this year with high school juniors and seniors.

He has his own computer programming tutor, and together they plan to work on an “app” for the Apple Store. “I’ve always been interested in computers, even in first grade and kindergarten,” he said. “I feel like my generation is going to be all about computer coding.”

Steven Siegel, a sophomore at Wantagh High, wanted to learn more about a topic he hopes to turn into a career. “I want to do something in the field of coding in the future,” he said. “A lot of things today involve computers, a lot of jobs. Not a lot of people have this skill.”

The instructors enjoyed the day just as much as the students. Sean Whiteman, a senior at Wantagh High School, taught Python, a high-level programming language, to middle-school students.

“It’s a great opportunity to help spread my passion,” he said. “It’s fulfilling. This is what I’ve been doing for years.”

Whiteman said he taught himself computer coding by watching tutorial videos online.

Kevin Crilley, a recent graduate of the University of Michigan with a degree in aerospace engineering, spent much of his college years doing computer programming. The 2011 Wantagh High School graduate was happy to share his knowledge with the programmers of tomorrow. “I know I would have benefitted from something like this,” he said of Tech Day.

Steven Falco, a junior at Hofstra University where he is studying physics, taught for the first time and was asked by Mountanos, his best friend since elementary school. Falco was teaching Scratch, a simple, user-friendly programming language.

“Everything we do involves some kind of computer science,” he said, “and people pretty much know nothing about it.”

At the end of the five-hour program, an octopus made on the school’s 3-D printer and an iTunes gift card were raffled off. Organizers of the program said they hope students would go home motivated and continue learning. Mountanos added that he wants to make Tech Day a regular program, and ultimately start a computer science class at Wantagh High School.