Community

We at Bio::Neos like to be involved with events that can promote computer science education within our local community and statewide. That's why I get so excited every year leading up to Computer Science Education Week.

As 2018 draws to a close, we at Bio::Neos would like to send our warmest wishes to everyone for happiness and success in 2019!

Meeting students and helping them explore possible STEM careers is something that we at Bio::Neos believe is important both for their future, and the local community. Plus, I find it really enjoyable to interact with these inquisitive young students! In the last two weeks, I had two opportunities to engage with students wanting to learn more about different career paths...

I am excited to announce that this Fall semester of 2018, the Eastern Iowa IT Sector Board has been permitted to run our Scratch programming competition at North Central Junior High (in the Iowa City Community School District). This is the second semester in a row that NCJH has opened their doors to our organization and we are hoping this year will be bigger and better than the last.

When we started Bio::Neos 14 years ago part of our company goals and values were a commitment to positive involvement with our community and providing education opportunities for students interested in technology and computer science. We have remained committed to these goals through the years, and are proud to see that other local organizations are rallying around these ideas in recent years.

On March 29th, Michael and I participated at the CCA 7th Grade STEM Day at Clear Creek Amana Middle School in Tiffin, IA organized by Workplace Learning Connection. The day involved guest speakers from all kinds of different science and technology backgrounds and we were responsible for the Information Technology session.

This last December, we at Bio::Neos had the opportunity to participate in Computer Science Education Week for the second straight year and it was just as energizing as the first! Last year, everyone in the office signed up as volunteers on Code.org, but only I was engaged to volunteer at schools that were requesting help. This year... we decided to be a bit more proactive in our support.

A couple weeks back, Michael and I volunteered for an event at the Coralville Library organized by Erica Binegar and called "On Your Mark! Get Set! Code!". It was a one hour class in which kids of 5th/6th graders of any ability level or previous experience were invited to the library to pair program for 1 hour under the guidance of a group of professional mentors (Including us there was Trish Ball from Continuity).

Over the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to see several different events that have displayed a lot of passion and enthusiasm in bringing innovative and unique ideas to reality.

This year, the week of December 7th to 13th has been declared Computer Science Education Week. This is an annual program organized through a grassroots effort by code.org and volunteers / partners. This program has been run since 2009, but this is the first year that Bio::Neos has been involved in the effort... and it was awesome!