Lt. Gov. Reynolds praises computer science education, urges students to work in Iowa

CORALVILLE - Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds met with several high school students enrolled in computer science courses Tuesday, urging them to help close the skills gap between the workforce and vocational job needs.

'But most of all,” she said, 'stay in Iowa.”

Reynolds met with students and administrators from Kirkwood Community College and University of Iowa at the Kirkwood Regional Center in Coralville. More than 400 high school students are enrolled in college-level courses or training at the center.

The state recently has spotlighted the need to bolster career and technical education opportunities in Iowa. In May, Gov. Terry Branstad signed legislation to reform programs across the state, and last year Branstad and Reynolds put forward the Future Ready Iowa Initiative.

The initiative sets a goal for 70 percent of Iowans to receive education and training past high school by 2025.

Groups of free, themed college-level courses, called high school academies, at Kirkwood Regional Center offer that training before high school graduation.

'This academy, the software development academy, brings the voice of what our industry partners are looking for to high school students,” said Colette Atkins, dean of Business and Information Technology at Kirkwood. 'And it creates places where students can step off the educational pathway with a credential and enter the workforce.”

In a computer coding class, students told the visiting delegation they had little or no experience in writing code before enrolling in the class.

West High student Bruno Rangel, 17, said he now understands the basics of a coding language. He spent about 40 hours building a web-based game - but, he said, it didn't feel like work.

Credits earned by the high-schoolers are transferable to most colleges and universities - including the University of Iowa, which donated the land for Kirkwood's Coralville campus.

'It keeps them engaged their senior year, and gets them learning about careers they might want to pursue,” University of Iowa Provost Barry Butler said. 'Having hands-on learning opportunities where you have real world problems adds to the interest of students.”

Two 17-year-old students from Tipton High, Zach Ford and Parker Jensen, built a website for a local not-for-profit for class credit.

'I was a little intimidated coming into this class,” Zach said. ' …

But I would encourage kids to try it out.”

They said they plan to maintain the site for the organization - locking them into local work for the foreseeable future.

'They're building relationships, they're building their own network,” Reynolds said. 'Kids are saying, ‘Why would I not come back to Iowa? That's where my whole network is.'”

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