Chesterbrook Elementary Student Wins Laptop in VDOE, CodeVA Contest

Chesterbrook Elementary student Jonathan was greeted by special visitors recently during his virtual lessons: Dr. Anne Petersen, science coordinator at the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), and Chris Dovi, executive director of CodeVA. They made the virtual visit to congratulate Jonathan and present him with a prize: a new laptop. Jonathan was named a winner of Computer Science in Your Neighborhood, a contest offered by the VDOE and CodeVA for Computer Science Education Week. In response to "Bringing CS Home - How do you use computer science?" Jonathan applied his computer programming skills to create a digital story in ScratchJr, a tablet-based coding application for children. His animated story, "Computer Science Adventures: At home in Virginia," celebrates Jonathan's interests in biology. The story follows two main characters as they visit local parks to identify creatures such as crocodiles and snapping turtles. The digital characters use microscopes to investigate smaller creatures. At the close of the story, the pair travels into the future to make a unicorn from rhinoceros DNA and horse DNA. When asked about the first thing he will do with his new laptop, he says that he will write a blog about beetles, fossils, and animals that live in backyards. Contact news liaison Kathleen Fugle at [email protected].