{"id":11081,"date":"2020-12-02T17:44:01","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T01:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=11081"},"modified":"2020-12-02T17:44:01","modified_gmt":"2020-12-03T01:44:01","slug":"coding-meets-community-at-providence-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=11081","title":{"rendered":"Coding Meets Community at Providence School"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Coding<\/a>

Coding Meets Community at Providence School, originally published in Santa Barbara Independent on November 19, 2020.<\/p><\/div>\n

Students Create App to\u00a0Connect Kids with Nonprofits<\/strong><\/p>\n

Challenged by their teachers in their coding class to\u00a0create some sort of an app, Providence Engineering\u00a0Academy<\/a> junior Sydney Whited and sophomore\u00a0Ruby Kilpper created the Santa Barbara Volunteer Opportunities\u00a0(SBVO) app<\/a>, matching service-minded students\u00a0to volunteer-seeking nonprofits.<\/p>\n

Coding wasn\u2019t either one of the girls\u2019 favorite aspects of\u00a0engineering prior to the project. But Kilpper explained,\u00a0\u201cI like to tackle each problem on its own and each assignment\u00a0on its own, so I kept an open mind, and I really\u00a0ended up enjoying it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspired in part by Whited\u2019s experience with the\u00a0National Charity League<\/a>\u2019s sign-up program for volunteering,\u00a0the pair designed the SBVO to improve on that\u00a0concept with an easier interface and a bit more emphasis\u00a0on the types of work (homeless services, elderly, special
\nneeds, children, animals, etc.) that might interest students.\u00a0The idea is to find a service opportunity with the\u00a0best fit for you.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially in the beginning of the app, I was definitely\u00a0the brainstormer,\u201d said Whited. \u201cBut Ruby was\u00a0the go-getter the whole time,\u201d\u00a0she said, recalling the various\u00a0challenges they went through\u00a0to create the project. \u201cHaving\u00a0a one-step signup was something\u00a0we thought would\u00a0really increase the amount of\u00a0student volunteers in Santa\u00a0Barbara.\u201d<\/p>\n

The girls were recognized\u00a0for their creative efforts by\u00a0Representative Salud Carbajal<\/a>,\u00a0who presented them\u00a0with the Congressional App\u00a0Challenge<\/a> award on January\u00a06, 2020, and invited them to\u00a0a reception at the House of\u00a0Representatives in Washington,\u00a0D.C. \u201cMy office and\u00a0I looked at all the entries,\u201d Carbajal told them. \u201cIt was\u00a0a very competitive pool, but your app rose to the top\u00a0very quickly. It was innovative, practical, and user friendly.\u00a0Concept-wise it is very strong, but the way you\u00a0approached it was very well executed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The students were excited to go to D.C. to participate\u00a0in the annual #HouseOfCode<\/a> on March 24, but that was\u00a0canceled due to the pandemic. Additionally, work on the\u00a0app, which is still in the development and testing stage, was\u00a0derailed a bit when school went online last spring. But with\u00a0Providence students back in class as of mid-October, Whited
\nand Kilpper are hoping to continue to fine-tune SBVO and\u00a0eventually make it available for the whole community to use.<\/p>\n

providencesb.org<\/a><\/p>\n

\"SB<\/a>

SB Independent Cover, Schools of Thought, November 19, 2020.<\/p><\/div>\n

Originally published in the Santa Barbara Independent<\/em> <\/a>on November 19, 2020. To read the section as it appeared in print, please click here.<\/a><\/p>\n

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