Mira Winner's Studio | Nextech Computer Science Teacher of the Year - Maria Sellers

Gerry Dick: So Maria, Nextech Computer Science Teacher of the Year and great accolades from everyone at TechPoint in in winning this award. But you actually began your career not in technology, right? As a music teacher, correct?,

Maria Sellers: Yeah, correct. I grew up loving music and so my initial career was being an elementary music teacher. But all along the line, especially through high school. And starting back in sixth grade, I've always loved computer science and enjoyed programming. So that was a part of my life. I never let go. And when I had the chance to jump to teach computer science, I did.

Gerry Dick: Well, you had to be aggressive, didn't you, to try to make that your opportunity happen. You kind of got the idea. How did, how did that whole transformation work?

Maria Sellers: So, when I went over to e-Learning in 2012, as I was in the e-learning, I started to notice the computer science was showing up a lot on discussion boards and in our in-person discussions. And so I took it back to South Vermilion and just requested, can I possibly teach this to some classes? Can we explore computer science with code.org? And they finally agreed to allow me to. And when a position opened up at South Vermillion Middle School my principal at the time, Angie Harris, asked, can we have you come into this spot and can you bring computer science to our school? And from that point, I was able to work with our curriculum director to then bridge it down to K five and wrote the curriculum maps and process for that, and then begged that it needed to be there after me as well. So now we have a K-12 program.

Gerry Dick: What's been the impact? Cause I know it's, it's varied and, and there's been a lot of participation students winning awards and doing well in competition that kinda, they talk about the impact that that the programs have had there in South Vermillion.

Maria Sellers: So a lot of our students that would've been silent or not have found their niche are finding their niche and just running with computer science in an entire new way, which is then catching the attention of a lot of business and businesses in the area. Realizing that South Vermillion is leading the way in robotics and computer science. So it's not the just the student itself, it's the community as well.

Gerry Dick: Yeah. Talk about those job opportunities, because I think that's a great point that you make for kids coming out, whether they go onto a four year degree or maybe it's a two year associate degree credential, whatever the case might be. Are these programs offering opportunities, work opportunities for students?

Maria Sellers: They are. So if a student would complete computer science through the middle school and then continue through high school, they have the opportunity, their junior and senior year to take some very specific courses in Microsoft certification. They also look at JavaScript certification and some other certifications that are available to them. And so a lot of those students are leaving, getting a job somewhere and then going to college at the same time while other kids are going straight into computer science. So we excitedly have a lot of our young ladies that are pursuing computer science degrees Now.

Gerry Dick: Number of initiatives that you have been behind, iCats? So it's the Wildcats, right? Is the nickname for South Vermillion High School. Talk about the iCats program.

Maria Sellers: So the iCat started when I was in e-learning, and that was just a platform. It was supposed to be me repairing things during the day. But we came up with why not teach the children? Why not give them this experience? And there were several of them, and in fact, a lot of them graduated and went on to be part of the tech department in their college where they were attending. So it was a great way to give them a launchpad for a job in the computer science realm as they pursued computer science. And now we've brought it to the middle school level where they are helping me do repairs with our iPads and any other device they can carry that knowledge to high school now.

Gerry Dick: Maria Sellers is the Nextech Computer Science Teacher of the Year. Maria, congratulations.

Maria Sellers: Thank you so much.