“First things first, even though there’s no physical connection to anything, the only reason you can connect to the Internet is because every computer in the world is connected in some way, shape, or form.”

On the second day of school, Andy Gatza, freshman, volunteered to explain the internet to his seventh period class. AP Computer Science Principles is a new class that teaches students about computers, the Internet, and the inner workings of technology.

“We try to start each topic off with an activity so students can form their own knowledge before we come together as a whole,” Ann Heltzel, computer science teacher, said. “Instead of just coding, we’re learning about what makes the internet work, how do we design solutions to problems, and what are the ethical ramifications of what we do.”

This is the first year the class is offered at LZHS, and the high school is one of the first schools across the country to try out the new course.

“The College Board has been talking about this class for about five years. Several organizations, like code.org, have received funding to develop curriculum for the course and to pilot the course,” Heltzel said. “ Code.org started a consortium of about twelve high school districts in the area to offer this course this year. They provided us with the curriculum and training to get it off the ground.”

Enough students are interested in the subject matter that the school is running two periods of the class.

“So far it’s pretty easy. I understand that most people are struggling with new concepts that they aren’t comfortable with, but I spent a lot of time on Wikipedia in the past, so I have a bit of a head start,” Aaron Glave, senior, said. “But I’m sure it will get fun and challenging soon. I’ve been having a lot of fun, partially because I’ve got lots of friends in the class, but also it’s a fun class.”

Not all the fun can be accredited to the course material, however.

“Honestly, so far my favorite part of the class has been when everyone is done,” Glave said. “There are people who have finished all their necessary work, [and I] like watching all the people racing to complete the coding challenge for [six year olds].”