Concord University’s Coding Coalition, formerly known as the Computer Science Club, hosted the first of many community building events on Friday, August 21 at the Athens Town Park. The event boasted free food, music, and games for all in attendance and was open to anyone interested.
The Coding Coalition has been undergoing a change of face lately in an effort to be more inclusive and welcoming of other majors and fields of study. “One of our goals this year in the Coding Coalition was to become more active and engaging with the student body,” explained the Coalition’s Vice President, Preston Bennett. He goes on to say that computer scientists are often thought of as antisocial and reclusive, stereotypes that make them seem unapproachable by outsiders.
According to Bennett, these stereotypes are simply not accurate. “We are all fun-loving, social people just like everyone else, and the cookout was our way of trying to make people feel compelled to come out and meet us,” he said.
The activity proved to be a successful endeavor, attracting students from a wide variety of majors and programs ranging from computer science to special elementary education. In the aftermath of the event, the Coding Coalition has gained several new members from varying majors. Bennett and the rest of the Coalition are excited about the new prospective collaborations and fresh perspective offered by the new additions.
“We really want to emphasize team dynamics and networking, and the Coalition provides an excellent opportunity for students in all majors to be able to connect and collaborate with students who have the ability to make a computer apply some sort of principal that was covered in the other student’s class. Maybe an economics major has a load of data that would be way too time consuming to sort and analyze manually…maybe an English major wants to create a piece of software that can generate poetry,” he said, outlining basic examples of potential projects the Coalition can delve into.
Projects that once seemed daunting and insurmountable for one group of people become manageable when new ideas and ways of thinking are brought to the table. “The possibilities are endless, and many people don’t think they have the skills or ability to ever attempt such a task, when in reality it’s a simple conversation away from becoming a reality,” said Bennett.
The Coding Coalition is looking to expand their horizons as far as members and projects go, and will be holding numerous other community-building events, starting with a board game night on Friday, August 28 at Subway Sides at 6:00 p.m..