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AACO Middle School Wins Month-Long Computer Coding Contest

MILLERSVILLE, Md. (WJZ) -- One Anne Arundel County middle school gets a big financial boost to its STEM program. After a month-long statewide contest, the governor hand-delivered a $10,000 check to the school.

Gigi Barnett explains hundreds of students now know how to code computers.

One hour of learning how to write computer programs, or computer coding. That was the challenge put to teachers and students around the state in the Maryland Hour of Code contest.

The school with the most creative techniques to teach the skill wins.

"The students of Old Mill Middle School are the winners of this year's contest. Big yourselves a round of applause," Governor Martin O'Malley announced.

The grand prize--$10,000, hand-delivered by Governor O'Malley. He says contests like Hour of Code help create the state's future technology workforce.

"When you learn code, you are going to be so much better prepared to get jobs after high school, to be able to go on to college and pay for college. And there really are certain skills that are in great demand in our state," the governor said.

During the month-long contest, some students at Old Mill Middle South didn't stop at one hour of coding. Some of them spent hours coding computers since learning the skill.

With the extra cash, the school can buy more computer equipment and expand its STEM program.

"Students have done three, four hours of coding and they went home and did even more of that. That actually drove us this year to start our own computer science curriculum, which is the first known curriculum for computer science at a middle school in Maryland state," said Adam Vezer, Old Mill Middle technology teacher.

The state teamed up with Northrop Grumman to launch the contest. Middle River Middle School in Baltimore County won the contest last year.

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