On December 5th, 30 VHS computer science students were admitted to Yale – at least for the day.

The students headed north to New Haven Ct. to Yale University to attend the CS50 Fair. The fair showcased various project Yale students had completed after taking the CS50 course.

CS50 is a computer science course that was originally taught at Harvard University and the computer science principles taught at VHS are based on this course. Yale also began to teach CS50 to freshman at the school and hosted its own fair to display the student’s work.
The Yale students worked throughout the semester to create different website, apps or game ideas using the elements of coding they learned in the course. Many of the projects were Yale-specific and would act as social media sites for the school and help connect students throughout the school.

The Verona students, such as junior Joe Ciccolini, were very impressed with the projects. “I thought the projects at the CS50 Fair were really cool. Someone made a Space Invaders game, someone else made a program that helped you pack items for a trip you were to go on.”
VHS students had the opportunity to walk around and ask the Yale students questions about their projects. This was the highlight of the trip of many high schoolers, like junior Seline Hekimgil. “I enjoyed talking to the students and seeing the amazing things they had done, especially since they’re only a few years older than me.”

In effort to encourage these interactions, the high schoolers received a card and a sticker every time they asked questions about the projects. After receiving ten stickers, they could enter their card in a raffle to win prizes. One lucky VHS student, Dylan Bakst, won the raffle and a 40 inch TV.

The trip culminated with a tour of the Yale campus.

The trip was very inspiring for many VHS students and allowed them to see how the coding skills they learn in class can become functioning websites, apps, and products.

“The fair really opened my eyes to the practical applications of coding and the accessibility of the field. It also inspired me that kids our age were creating such great things and I was overall really impressed by the whole thing.”  says junior Steve Macawili.

In an interesting coincidence, Mr. Wertz happened to run into former student Chris Looney, VHS Class of 2009, on the street in New Haven.  Chris is currently attending. Yale Law School and posed with the current VHS students for the photo attached to this story.