At Monsignor Edward Pace High School’s first-ever Geek Week, held June 16-20, students and alumni along with middle school students enjoyed a unique array of fun and informative activities designed around building their knowledge in programming, coding, computers, and technology. The camp was led by Hedda Falcon, lead teacher for Pace’s Academy of Emerging Computer Technologies.
For the first three days, students took part in an app development workshop led by Microsoft Evangelist James Quick on how to make video games. Most students played Minecraft and World of Warcraft on the school’s PCs during the downtime after camp field trips, so Quick’s lessons and techniques certainly found receptive ears.
Day 4 was the camp’s most unique field trip, as the Geek Week crew went through layers of security for a tour of NAP of the Americas, Verizon Terremark’s premier facility and where most of Latin America connects to the Internet. Students got a tour of the state-of-the-art telecommunications headquarters that connects South America and the Caribbean to the rest of the world.
For the camp’s final day, a tour of the Microsoft Store in Dadeland Mall ended up becoming much more, as it happened to coincide with the launch party for Microsoft’s new Surface Pro 3 laptop/tablet hybrid. Students got to learn about Microsoft’s innovative products, watch a 3D printer demonstration, and even play video games.
“It was a fun experience and I met a lot of great people,” said Alexandra Perez, a junior at Pace.
Joshua Dubon, a middle school student, stated, “My favorite part was playing on the computers at the Microsoft store.”
Towards the end, some students were overheard begging Falcon to make next year’s Geek Week two weeks long. Whether that will happen remains to be seen, but the enthusiastic responses shows that Pace’s first Geek Week was an astounding success.
For information concerning Pace High School’s other summer camps and class enrollment, call 305-623-7223.