Gov. Rick Snyder honored four East Lansing High School students Tuesday night during his State of the State Address for bringing “him the idea” to encourage more computer science education in Michigan schools.
" We realize that this is the first step,” says Samantha White, Senior at East Lansing High School. “ We want to ensure that all students have access to computer science.”Samantha White isn’t your ordinary student."
She says she has a full class load of Advanced Placement classes and is currently y taking a class in differential equations at Michigan State University.Samantha and her classmates Katie Knox, Taylor Murray, and Sophie Steiner started a club called STEM (Students for Females in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math ) at ELHS.
“We presented him with our case saying that computer science is a really important skill for the 21st century, said Samantha. “ It’s just as important as reading, writing, and math. “It’s severely lacking in our schools in Michigan and across the country,” she said.
Samantha hopes that her efforts with her classmates and Snyder will bring change for the area of computer science.“We look forward to continuing to work with Gov. Snyder to ensure all students across the state will have access to quality computer science education."
