Sartell Schools Doing Its Part To Boost State’s Computer Ranking

SARTELL (WJON News) -- Sartell-Stephen Schools is doing its part to offer kids a wide range of computer science opportunities. Code.org recently ranked Minnesota last in access for high school students to computer science but Sartell High School offers 5 different courses to its students, two advanced placement computer science classes, and three elective options. High School Principal Shayne Kusler says they are always looking to add more:

"We're always looking to expand our offerings based on what our student demand is. I would agree that in Minnesota we need to do better and I look forward to being able to offer more. At Sartell, I think we offer more than some places but certainly still can look to increase our options."

Kusler says they also work with community education to get younger kids interested:

"We do and those are offered I would say at the lower level than the high school. There's not a lot of community ed offerings at the high school because those students choose robotics for example as their extracurricular activity, but our robotics team, and specifically our robotics coach, have been doing a great job with community ed to offer opportunities for our younger students to get involved early on."

Sartell Schools are also part of Project Lead the Way, a nationally recognized engineering program. Chad Dukowitz heads up Project Lead the Way at the Middle School and he says the classes also help get kids into the industry:

"We need people in those industries right now, and so I have a unique opportunity of giving them a taste of robotics, giving them a taste of woodworking and construction and engineering that maybe they haven't thought of before."

Over the last three years, Sartell has had an average of 170 students in its computer offerings. Students also have extracurricular opportunities through the Robotics team, and the school is looking at potentially adding an Esports team in the future too.

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