Why did the potato enter the maze?

Okay, not the best start to a joke, because there’s not a funny answer. The potato entered the maze because a team of 11^th graders in Adam Smith’s AP Computer Science class in Cheney High School in rural Cheney, Washington, programmed the potato to do so.

The students used their coding skills to make the potato jump and run to catchy music as part of their energetic and interesting game. Not only did they create a great game, they honed their presentation skills to explain the development of the game and what computer science skills they applied to a group of 40 education leaders from across the country during Washington STEM’s recent statewide STEM Learning Tour.

These students will be well prepared to take on the tech challenges that most of them will face in higher education and the workforce. Indeed, teacher Adam Smith stays in touch with many of his alumni who have successful careers in tech, government, local business, and even comedy (obviously they’ve got better jokes than us regarding potatoes).

Yet, the students at Cheney High School are a minority in Washington state. According to code.org, only 95 schools in Washington offer AP computer science – just 23% of those offering AP courses. What’s more, only 1770 high school students took the AP computer science exam – only 28% of those female. Only 70 students that took the test were Latino, and only 39 Black. If we want to prioritize equity in STEM careers, we have to start earlier to ensure that people from all parts of Washington, women, and students of color have opportunities to engage from the beginning. And the good news is that access to programs like AP Computer Science in high school lead to continued engagement in college – girls who take AP CS are 10 times more likely to major in it in college, and Black and Latino students are 7 times more likely.

Washington state currently has almost 20,000 open computing jobs. We’re #2 in STEM job concentration in the United States, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. We’re preparing some students to take these great jobs, and the ones that are prepared are succeeding. But we need to do more to encourage and retain interest in STEM fields for all of our students.

So it turns out there’s a punch line to this joke after all – there’s a great opportunity to expand computer potato production throughout Washington state, and that’s by supporting our Computer Science Catalyst Fund.

Washington STEM worked with Representatives Chad Magendanz (R-5) and Drew Hansen (D-23) along with Governor Jay Inslee to create an opportunity for school districts, schools, and nonprofits to expand access to computer science education, especially for girls and students from groups underrepresented in STEM. The state pledged $2 million with the requirement that there be a 1:1 match from private sources. The upshot of this is that there will be $4 million available to support computer science education for girls and underrepresented students. The catch is that we need support to get those private matches.

Washington STEM, in partnership with OSPI, announced the first round of grantees for the fund earlier in March. The grants mean students will engage in activities like developing animal robots, developing and programming ocean sensors, and writing code for video games. The grant recipients have been incredibly resourceful about finding private matching funds. That said there is still a gap of $625,000 to cover funding to allow students to take part in these educational opportunities.

If you’re interested in partnering with us to support Computer Science education, you can visit our Computer Science Catalyst Fund website for more information. You can also contact our Corporate Relations Manager, Matt Morgan, who can fill you in on the opportunity. Because don’t we all want to be playing a game with a racing and jumping potato?