Texas Border Business
By Selene Rodriguez
For the seventh year in a row, South Texas College’s Information Technology department hosted its Rockin’ IT event, welcoming nearly 90 middle school students for an immersive day of discovery in technology.
For the first time, the event incorporated workshops on artificial intelligence alongside hands-on activities in coding and cloud-based web design, giving students a glimpse into how creativity and curiosity can lead to exciting careers in the digital world.
“We want to showcase our program and show students that they can get into IT right here at STC,” said STC IT faculty member Gabriela Pena. “This is our first year offering an AI workshop because artificial intelligence is really taking off. We want to show these students how AI can be used as a study partner to generate quizzes, explain concepts they don’t understand or give them a quick summary or review.”
Other event workshops included Build Your First Website, an introduction to HTML, the language that powers the internet; I Can Code with Python, a quick overview of Python programming fundamentals and Web Arcade: Cloud-Based Web API Overview and Demonstration, which explored how web-based applications, such as online games, work behind the scenes.
Pena, who has worked in the field for 35 years and has witnessed its evolution from the days before Windows to the rise of AI, said the response to the event has been overwhelmingly positive.
“The kids love it, but the feedback from teachers has been just as good,” she said. “They want to expand their students’ options and show them what’s available and that’s why they bring them back every year.”
This year’s event was attended by more than 40 students each from Ida Diaz Junior High from the Hidalgo Independent School District and Kenneth White Junior High from the Mission Consolidated Independent School District.
Arnulfo Sanchez, migrant coordinator at Hidalgo ISD, has participated in every year and highlighted how important it is to inspire young students who are deeply involved with technology to consider it as a career path.
“This generation is born into technology. They use it every day, and we’re here to show them how that can be transformed into well-paying careers,” Sanchez said. “This event gives our students a look into what their futures hold in technology, and since we are dual credit partners with STC, it also gives them a glimpse into what’s ahead because their journey can very well continue at STC.”
He added that he has seen students who were first introduced to technology through this event go on to pursue careers in the field.
“Every year we graduate about 70 students with an associate degree from STC. Some of them, at one point, attended this event while they were in junior high,” he said. “Technology is the future and we now have computer science and cybersecurity majors who started their journey right here. This event really does have an impact.”
For seventh grader Roxana G., who attended the event for the second time, it offered a more realistic view of what it takes to pursue her dream of becoming a graphic designer.
“I’m having a lot of fun,” she said. “I really liked the Python workshop. This is my second time doing it, and I think I understand it even more now. I want to be a graphic designer, which involves computers and sometimes uses coding too. I feel like this helps me see what I’ll need to learn to do that.”
For many students, technology is just a part of their everyday life. Pena added that events like this one help them see how the tools they already use can lead to rewarding careers and new possibilities.
She said that’s exactly the goal behind introducing younger students to IT early on.
“IT is ever-changing, but it helps us in so many ways and it’s all around us,” she said. “If you’re interested in a field that’s growing and here to stay, why not get into IT? From hospitals to banks, schools and everything in between, every place depends on technology. Everyone expects Wi-Fi and connectivity, and we’re the ones making that happen. We’re the ones making the connections.”
For more information on STC’s Information Technology program, visit southtexascollege.edu/academics/information-technology/ or call 956-872-2240.
Information source: STC
