A regional effort undertaken from Dec. 3 to 9 aimed to get about 12 Milwaukee-area companies to teach 1,000 hours of computer coding to area students.
In the end, Milwaukee’s “Hour of Code” far surpassed that goal, with more than 190 volunteers at 20 companies and organizations hosting 71 events, where they taught K-12 students more than 4,700 hours of code.
The participants were: 88Nine Radio Milwaukee, Advocate Aurora Health, Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, code.org, Discovery World, GE Healthcare, i.c. Stars Milwaukee, Islands of Brilliance, Marquette University, Milwaukee Electric Tool, Milwaukee Public Library, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., Rockwell Automation Inc., Scanalytics Inc., SHARP Literacy, SynerComm, SysLogic and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The local Hour of Code, part of code.org’s global Hour of Code effort, was organized by Northwestern Mutual and NEWaukee. Both have advocated for Milwaukee to become a hub for tech talent.
The aim is to develop potential tech talent in the area by helping to bridge the gap in computer science learning and exposure some students experience. According to code.org, less than 40 percent of U.S. high schools teach computer science.
According to Northwestern Mutual, Wisconsin has about 8,000 open computing jobs, and the seven-county Milwaukee region is projected to have more than 30,000 open technology jobs in the next five years.
“When companies and communities work side-by-side to support a larger purpose, good things happen,” said Karl Gouverneur, vice president of digital workplace, corporate solutions and head of digital innovation at Northwestern Mutual. “To build a vibrant tech hub in Milwaukee, we’re providing students with STEM learning opportunities so that they can be inspired and develop an interest in technology from an early age.”
“We were excited to see this city-wide effort involve people of all ages in Hour of Code,” said Alice Steinglass, president of code.org. “We hope this momentum will continue into 2019 and beyond and that Milwaukee can be a champion for computer science in Wisconsin.”
