South High and Ballard Elementary welcomed an exciting visitor this week—Blake Schafer from CodeHS—as part of his 50-state journey to promote coding education!

At Ballard Elementary, Blake first met with third graders to introduce them to block coding. The students were thrilled to create programs using colorful command blocks that made animated squirrels move and swing across their screens.

Later, Blake visited Mrs. Thompson's coding class at South High, where he discussed educational pathways and career opportunities in computer programming. The students then applied their learning by creating block-based code projects inspired by Blake's CodeHS van.

For newcomers to coding, block programming offers an engaging introduction to computer science. Rather than typing traditional text-based code, students simply connect visual blocks that represent different commands—similar to assembling a digital puzzle. This intuitive approach makes programming concepts accessible and fun for young learners.

SGF extends heartfelt thanks to Blake Schafer and CodeHS for inspiring our students and bringing coding education to our schools!

South Glens Falls High School

Digital Explorer's 50-State Journey Makes Programming Pop at SGF Schools