COURTENAY, B.C.- Lake Trail Middle School is hosting a special tech event Wednesday.
The hack-a-thon, also known as a code-fest, is a coding event that has computer programmers taking part in endurance challenges.
For the challenges, participants have to work together to learn how to use a game development platform and use that to create a functioning game.
The competition takes place at Courtenay’s Lake Trail Middle School, and is an all-female event.
It was created by the non-profit organization Hackergal. The organization aims to inspire young females to work and learn about the world of coding, a tech sector primarily dominated by males.
However, coding is also taught to all students at Lake Trail. It helps students pursuing a tech-related job hone their skills and become employable after graduation in the booming industry.
In a release from School District 71, Lake Trail vice-principal Zale Darnel said, “the goal within our school is to bring awareness to all of our students around coding and computational thinking.”
“These skill sets will be necessary for all students as they pursue career choices in the future,” he said.
Darnel noted that the school’s goal is to “make each students’ life better”, and that “giving students this opportunity fits with that goal.”
The Lake Trail hack-a-thon starts at 9:30 a.m. and runs until 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 13th.
