South Hills IT Alum in the News
January 9, 2025
Hands-On Learning in Cybersecurity
March 11, 2025South Hills Instructor, Guido Santella speaks to Holidaysburg Junior High School Students
Guido Santella, presented on February 21st, 2025 to an Intro to Computer Coding class at Hollidaysburg Junior High where students study Web Design, Python, and App Development.
My main goal was to encourage interest and excitement in tech, answer questions, and let the students know that if they have fun solving the problems in their class, they could just keep on learning tech skills and turn it into a career. What the students are learning today, really isn't much different than what I was learning in my Intro to Computer Programming class in Altoona in the early 90's. I even shared the games we were able to play when we completed our coding assignments early.
Santella covered topics such as:
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Computer language variables and if statements
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Where the student's homework really gets saved - hint: it's not on your Chromebook, but in the cloud (see: cloud photos)
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What it was like in a junior high coding class in the early 90's - the computers and different programming languages (see: photo)
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Skills required to be successful in tech
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Programming languages they are using in class, Python, is one of the most popular languages and used in much of the AI we hear about in the news.
Santella also mentioned that "so many of my friends in my junior high class kept on working with those computers and have turned that fun, curiosity, and passion into many professional tech careers today."
