Newtown High School junior Julia Scataglini hosted a “CS Night” (computer science night) event for eighth and ninth grade students on May 27.

“CS Night was my [Computer Science Honor Society] community service project to further CS outreach in Newtown by directly engaging families from eighth and ninth grade,” Julia explained in an e-mail following the event.

Julia shared that the event began with fellow NHS students Sanjana Vakacherla, a senior, and Anthony Crisci, a junior, reflecting on how computer science has impacted their lives.

“Then I worked with the crowd on our programming problem and showed the pseudo-code for our program,” Julia said. “The crowd then ‘programmed’ their own code using printed out app inventor blocks. Then the crowd played a Kahoot! to see their program in action. After the Kahoot! I played the [Computer Science Honor Society] video, and volunteers and myself took questions from the audience on CS courses and extracurriculars from the high school.

When the event had ended, all participants were provided a gift bag that had candy, stickers, a mini Rubik’s Cube, and a puzzle eraser.”

NHS computer science teacher Kristin Violette said in an e-mail that she is proud of Julia for designing and hosting the evening event.

“My hopes now are to make CS Night an annual event,” Julia said, “as community outreach is important to higher enrollment and participation in CS classes, extracurriculars, and the field as a whole.”

Eliza Hallabeck can be reached at eliza@thebee.com.