Plainfield North held the Hour of Code for the first time this Tuesday, December 8 during all lunch periods in the Media Center.

The Hour of Code was being sponsored by Robert Berg, a programming teacher at North. Berg was approached by Mikayla Buford, Senior, at the beginning of the year and decided to reach out to Hour of Code to host an event at North.

“The Hour of Code is a nationwide event during Computer Science week, December 7-11, that helps introduce and ‘demystify’ coding to students and adults around the world,” said Berg.

Hour of Code is free provided one has a computer or tablet to access the tutorials by Hour of Code. There are different levels of tutorials based on how much someone knows and how fast they get through different tutorials.

“Anybody can do Hour of Code. There are different levels of tutorials that people can do going from beginner to advanced. Students also don’t need to bring anything, they just need to sign up and they will be set for the Hour of Code,” said Berg.

Students that attended Hour of Code ranged in being beginner to intermediate to advanced level. There were tutorials, games, and activities that ranged from these levels. One of these tutorials was Star Wars themed.

“I had to write code to move droids around and have them collect things for points. It was actually pretty fun,” said Junior Justin Barry. “If I have the time, I will definitely be pursuing coding. It was fun.”

Students that were advanced at coding also helped out and talked to others that were coding.

“I like coding, it’s fun. I am familiar with it because I am in computer science and I’m always surrounded by computers. I think that it is important to know how computers work,” said Senior Jacob Smolen. “It is just phenomenal.”

There were 37 slots per lunch period open for people to sign up for the Hour of Code. Students that sign up just needed to show up at the media center for the lunch period they signed up for and they then began with the Hour of Code.

“I have not participated [in Hour of Code]. I think this is only the second year nationwide. This is the first year North will be participating, and I hope to continue in the coming years,” said Berg.

The Hour of Code is a relatively young movement, with this year only being the second year that there has been an Hour of Code. Hour of Code hopes to raise awareness by making promotional videos featuring celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher participating in the Hour of Code. The ultimate goal of Hour of Code is to raise awareness to coding and Computer Science world wide.

“Everything is computer based, more students knowing Computer Science will help grow many things in society. People use computers everyday, but not many know how they work and how to manipulate them to their liking. The job opportunities are endless as well. As of now there are not enough people who know how to code in the nation. The compensation is also really high,” said Berg.