Students at Kolter Elementary School cheered and posed for pictures alongside a $10,000 check from Code.org that will go toward purchasing new laptops after the school won the nonprofit’s Hour of Code registration challenge. Kolter was selected as the Texas school winner along with 50 other schools that were named the winners for their state. [su_vimeo url=”https://vimeo.com/114167212″ ]

“I really like how the Hour of Code teaches you computer science, but it is also fun and helps you learn at your own pace,” said fifth grader Leah Mei who spoke at a press conference Wednesday, Dec. 10 when the school received the funds. “Coding is becoming more and more important, and the Hour of Code will definitely motivate lots of kids to continue to learn coding.”

Kolter is one of more than 100 HISD schools participating in the global Hour of Code initiative that challenges students to dedicate an hour to learning about computer science.

The school’s campus technologist, Mary Daniel, registered for Kolter to participate in the Hour of Code.

“I’ve been teaching (computer) programming since the 1980s,” Daniel said. “For years, I’ve been preaching ‘computation, computation.’ I’m so thrilled that finally people are listening.”