May 11, 2018 — #OurKids, the Game-Changers
I remember taking AP exams when I was in high school. I remember bubbling in the same seemingly mundane information, wondering why College Board REALLY needed to know my address and email and my parents’ education levels. I remember sitting through hours of boring directions and frantic bubbling and pacing proctors, and I remember leaving rooms feeling both confident and deflated, both relieved and nervous.
A few things have changed in the last 10 years — I’ve learned some new things/graduated college/have a job, and yet, I find myself back in rooms with AP exams (I guess some things really never do change…). Except this time, I have the privilege of being on the other side of things. On May 11, I proctored my first AP exam — it was the AP Computer Science Principles exam that our sophomores took. I was the person reading the directions about filling in the circles darkly and completely. I was the person telling students to stick barcodes from one paper onto the next. I was the person pacing the room back and forth for two full hours because, well, that’s really all I could do. I was the person telling students to answer the very questions I found irrelevant and annoying ten years ago. There’s one question, though, that stuck out to me this time around — the question about family/guardian education backgrounds.
As a high school student, my answer was always the same — both my parents are immigrants, but both went to college back in India and attended post-graduate institutions here in the United States. I would always bubble the appropriate answers to that question given my context and move on without thinking twice about it. This year, as a proctor in a room of students I’ve spent now two years with, and whom I know quite well, that question took on a different perspective. The answers in my room were very different than my own answers a decade ago. In some cases, my students’ parents only finished grade school. For others, the farthest was a high school diploma. Some students’ families are immigrants who may not have had the same opportunities our students do here in the United States; other students have no idea.
As I watched my group bubble in their identifying information on their answer sheets, it occurred to me what a privilege it is to be witness to such excellence, brilliance, and intelligence — and to witness a part of history. I say history because the same students with those answers to the questions about family and education sat for and completed the 2018 AP Computer Science Principles Exam. They program, they build, they ideate, they debug (all things that I certainly have no idea how to do) — and yes, they do some regular teenage things, too. But as I took a moment to look around the room, my thoughts weren’t about the regular teenage things or the daily challenges that come with teaching high school; in fact, I didn’t see a room full of teenagers at all. I saw a room full of the new normal for computer science — a room full of young men and women, all with different backgrounds and experiences and from different places, who have spent two years building foundational knowledge in coding. In that moment, I saw a room full of game-changers.
Part of the reason I chose to come to WLA was because of its unwavering commitment to CS For All, and all the triumphs, trials, and tribulations that accompany true and equitable access to computer science education for all kids. On May 11, I got to support a part of that vision as it came to fruition in every corner of our school. I’m incredibly proud of #ourkids, our AP CSP teacher, and our team. I’m humbled by the work #ourkids have done for the last two years and what that means for them and their families; the significance of May 11, 2018 for #ourkids is not lost on me. Those 2 hours, while uncomfortably silent and somewhat nerve-racking, were also game-changing for #ourkids, their families, and for the students who come after them, and I’m proud to play a small part in building a school committed to making CS For All a reality in D.C. and beyond.
