OPTIMIZED SYSTEMS

Computer Sci High School to Open in NYC

Rebecca Kutzer-Rice | Date: 02-03-12 | Comments

A high school specializing in computer science, set to open in September 2012, will prepare students of all academic backgrounds for college studies and eventual careers in the technology industry.

New York is one city making strides in smart, tech-savvy investments like its new applied science and engineering campus. This year, a high school dedicated to training students in software engineering will open as the first school of its kind in the city.

Called The Academy for Software Engineering, the high school will be non-vocational, meanings its complete curriculum will prepare students for college studies. But students won�t have to have perfect grades to enroll at the school; it�s open to anyone interested in software and technology.

Major Bloomberg announced the school in his recent State of the City Address, which focused largely on education.

�Today, far too many of our graduates are leaving without the skills they need to succeed beyond high school. Not every student wants to go to college, nor is college right for everyone. But all students should leave prepared to succeed in the next phase of their lives,� Bloomberg said. �It�s a new way of thinking about secondary school based on today�s economic realities.�

Mike Zamansky, a teacher at Stuyvesant High School, had the initial idea for the high school, which is funded by Union Square Ventures.

According to Government Computer News, the school will open in September 2012. The Academy for Software Engineering will open with an inaugural freshman class, adding another grade each year. By 2015, around 450 students in ninth through twelfth grade should be enrolled.

New York has other specialized high schools, like the Bronx High School of Science and the High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College, but this will be the first school specializing in computer science.

Joel Spolsky, who will be on the board at the new school, emphasizes the opportunity it presents for non-A students. �A lot of kids are just not interested enough in other academic subjects to get good grades, but they would make great software engineers,� he said in a blog. �A lot of immigrants (especially in New York) are not yet proficient enough in English to get good grades in all their subjects, but they�re going to make great software engineers, too.�

The school is part of an overall trend in training more students for careers in the tech industry, which is creating more jobs than ever before.