Computer Science Education Day 2007 is Coming

Brian Scarbeau the man who came up with this great idea recently reminded me that Computer Science Education Day is coming up this December 7th, 2007. This particular day has been selected because it is close to the birthday of Grace Murray Hopper - computer science pioneer who through the course of her career educated more than a few people about the issues involved with computer science.

Possible ways to celebrate the day (borrowed from the web site - see the PDF and html posters near the bottom of the page) include:

• Poster contest
• Fastest to debug a program
• Guest speakers from the Computer Science Field
• Essay contest about the life of Grace Hopper
• Recognize an accomplished school alumnus working in CS with a press release and certificate
• Invite past students in to "tell it like it is" about CS careers or college
• Collaborate with the lunch room to rename the items of each day's menu to some clever computer related term. For example: just for fun infinite loop spaghetti or Grace Hopper Pie

I was a guest speaker at a local high school last year and it was a lot of fun. Professionals in my reading audience you may want to bring this day (with an offer to speak) to your local high school. It is a great way to encourage students to try out a computer science course and to look into the field.

Admiral Hopper was a personal hero of mine who I was fortunate to meet in person on a number of occasions and that makes the day even more special to me.