Gallery • 3 Photos

Devin Henk

Instructing the class, Computer Science Teacher Dario Gudino-Garcia walks around the room to make sure students are on track in their code.org activity.

Since the start of this school year, students were able to select the newly introduced AP Computer Science Principles course being offered as an elective.

The class is offered to students currently enrolled or who have completed Algebra 3-4. Students will still have to take part in the AP exam in May, and if dual enrolled, they will receive credit for the grade they receive through the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

“I tell students if you’re dual enrolled in this class you must take it very seriously,” AP Computer Science teacher Dario Gudino-Garcia said. “Whatever grade you get in this class is going to be something that translates to your college transcript.”

The curriculum introduces the fundamentals of computer science and students can learn things such as how the internet works, and how computers function. Everything that is digital today runs off basic principles that most people are unaware of.

The growing need for students to develop computer skills is being noticed by the State of Nebraska with the Unicameral passing LB1112, The Computer Science and Technology Education Act last April. This will require school districts to adopt computer science curriculum for K-12 by the 2024-25 school year. It will also require a semester of a computer science class to graduate high school starting in the 2026-27 school year.

This class attempts to spread basic computer science principles to all different types of people. Anyone who has the slightest interest in this class will be able to benefit from this class.

“Just like in a math class, you learn problem-solving,” Gudino-Garcia said. “In computer science, you’re learning a lot of problem-solving and logical thinking that I think is going to benefit students whether they study something related to computer science later on or not.”

Anyone who is interested in AP Computer Science will be able to learn hands-on around 80% of the time and students will explore and discover on their own which will let them go more in-depth with being independent thinkers. As far as assignments and tests go, students will be able to finish most of their work in class. There will be projects turned in as a summative as well as your normal multiple-choice tests, which will also help students prepare for the AP exam.

“The class is quite easy as Mr. Gudino does an exemplary job at helping us make us understand the concepts deeper than just surface-level coding,” senior Bryan Benitez said.

However, there is reason to believe that this class may not be suited for all people. AP classes are meant to be challenging and this is no exception. If you love math, logic, or reasoning, you could add the AP Computer Science class to your schedule when choosing classes for the following school year.