CLEVELAND, Ohio — A $2 million grant awarded to Cleveland State University is now helping Cleveland High School students pursue a career in computer sciences.
Cleveland State University and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District are joining forces to provide high school students with advanced computer science courses. The $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation will be used to create a talent pipeline program.
“Following students from 9th grade all the way through college and career, bringing the college kids back to CMSD to serve as mentors for the high school students, and also we’re working with local businesses to create internship opportunities for kids from CMSD,” said Dr. Debbie Jackson, a professor at CSU and the principal investigator for the computer science program.
Jackson said there are nearly 12,000 open IT jobs in Cleveland right now, with less than 2,000 college students in the state graduating with degrees to fill the positions — that’s according to code.org. That’s why she said getting high school students on track now to study computer science opens them up to lots of opportunities once they finish college.
“Many disciplines now incorporate computer sciences, right? If we think about the arts and theatre, all of those are now are done on computers with sound, with color, all of those types of things. So, I’d be hard pressed to find a discipline that doesn’t involve computer science,” said Jackson.
Chelsey Cook Kohn is the principal at John Marshall School of Information Technology in Cleveland. She agrees getting the students started early is key.
“We can’t just teach our students what computer science is. I think we have to allow them to practice what computer science does in the workplace, be creative, and truly create a project with a team, working with a client, and getting little pieces of experience all along the way,” she said.
The students will participate in computer science classes during the school year, as well as programs during the summer. They’ll also have opportunities for internships while still in high school to start building their resumes
“When Cleveland sees what our students are capable of, and what it means to have homegrown talent filling the open jobs in Cleveland, it’s a game changer, and it’s going to be amazing,” said Cook Kohn.
Jackson said the fall program for students will begin in November. Their hope is to have an in-person summer program next year, but, of course, that will depend on the pandemic.
