A Center on a Mission
The Constellations Center for Equity in Computing was founded in December 2017 with a mission to ensure that all students—especially students of color, women, and others underserved in K-12 and post-secondary institutions—have access to quality computer science education, a fundamental life skill in the 21st century. It has been quite the journey since then, but we are proud to celebrate some of our biggest moments from the past 12 months. Happy birthday, Constellations! We can't wait to grow old with you!
Launch Day
Constellations was officially launched on December 11, 2017. Our center is committed to challenging and improving the national computer science educational ecosystem. Senior Director, Kamau Bobb, shared the vision for the center with many supporters and friends of Georgia Tech at our launch party.
CENTER WELCOMES FIRST FELLOWS
The Constellations Fellows are essential to the success of our center. Terry Foster and PK Graff joined our team the summer of 2018 and immediately began developing coursework and relationships with their assigned schools. Graff and Foster are highly experienced educators and computer scientists and we are thrilled to have them as our inaugural fellows.
SHANA WHITE JOINS FELLOWS TEAM
Our fellows team just wasn't complete without Shana White. Shana joined our team later in Summer 2018 and hit the ground running with her schools, Mays High School and Douglass High School. Shana's unique background as a physical education and health teacher who now teaches computer science makes her an integral part of our team.
FELLOWS BEGAN TEACHING IN ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The moment we had been waiting for! Beginning in August 2018, the Constellations fellows began teaching at six Atlanta Public Schools (APS) along with a teacher of record from the school. We are thankful for the original six schools for embarking on this journey with us and allowing their students to experience the magic of computer science.
AWARDED FIRST MAJOR GRANT
We could not do what we do without the generous support of many companies, organizations, and individuals. In our first year, we received several significant grants that will help make our mission a reality. If you are interested in supporting Constellations, please contact Brad Hastings at brad.hastings@cc.gatech.edu
CO-HOSTED FIRST EVER KNOWLEDGE FORUM
We have traveled far and wide across the United States for speaking engagements, community building and more. In September 2018, Constellations joined forces with CSforALL to host our first ever Knowledge Forum in El Paso, Texas. The forum brought together some of the country's most prominent leaders and researchers in CS Ed for dialogue about the opportunities available to increase access to quality CS education in underserved communities.
PRESENTED COMMITMENT AT CSFORALL SUMMIT
This fall, the national computer science (CS) education community convened in Detroit, Mich., to celebrate progress on the CSforALL movement. The summit also gave organizations the opportunity to announce new commitments to reach the goal of access to rigorous, inclusive, and sustainable computer science education for all US students. Constellations announced a commitment to teaching computing to 200 students in 2018-2019. Our Director of Educational Innovation and Leadership, Lien Diaz, moderated a panel on engaging underrepresented youth in computer science.
CELEBRATED COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATION WEEK
Computer Science Education Week is a national movement and was recognized December 3-9, 2018. Constellations celebrated by hosting webinars, a Twitter chat and an on-campus event for our students at Constellations schools. Our fellows also organized several activities for our students in the classroom during the week.
Here's Looking at You, Year Two!
To contact Constellations for more information about the Center or how you can help email us at gtconstellations@gatech.edu
Credits:
Created with images by Christopher Robin Ebbinghaus - "untitled image"