This year, De Soto High School added a new computer science class to the curriculum.  

The class is taught by math teacher Tod Hessong and students focus on learning basic programming functions. The computer language that is taught is mostly JavaScript. They primarily use code.org which has its own sort of language.

Students complete lessons in a custom environment that makes it easy to get the hang of programming.  

“Some students are working on a hall of fame touch screen project where they are actually building an app to make it,” Hessong said.

To take the class, students must have completed Integrated Math I.

Junior Cody Murphy is currently in the class, and he has always been interested in computers.

“When I saw that the school was offering a computer science class that could give formal education on things like programming, I immediately was interested and decided to take it,” Murphy said.

Students in the class sometimes do exercises where they use HTML and CSS, which are web-based languages that help design websites.

Murphy claims that the class does not require students to have a lot of experience with computers.

“Being knowledgeable about computers and how to use them obviously helps, but the class is structured in a way that makes it easy for someone that knows nothing about computers to get started programming and learning the concepts,” Murphy said.

Hessong is encouraging more students to take the class.

“I think every student should take this class because no matter what they do career wise, it’s going to involve technology somehow, and this will be a benefit,” Hessong said. “You don’t have to be just a computer programmer to take this class.”