Data Science Ambassadors Computer Science Camp

From June 24 – June 28th, I attended Data Science Ambassadors Computer Science Camp at Pepperdine University. Several JSR members and I joined a group of about 2 dozen area students to spend an amazing week learning coding, data science, programming, and much more about the field of computer science. 

The entire program was a pretty eye-opening experience for me as it was my first time learning how to code and how to program. There were two courses that everyone was divided into. Track 1 was focused mainly on students who were beginners just starting to learn how to code. Track 2 was focused on students who had some experience coding and were looking to excel in their skills even further. 

 

Our instructors were world-renowned professors – Prof. Seon Ho Kim, Ph.D of USC and Prof. Jeongkyu Lee Ph.D of University of Bridgeport (CT). In Track 1, we learned loads about the basics of a computer language called Python. With Python, you can program the computer to complete tasks such as make games, perform simple tasks that are time consuming, and organize data. We also learned a lot about how computer science and computational thinking can be applied to our lives outside of the field of Computer Science. 

Our schedule was packed every day of the camp as we usually got up from our dorms from 7am when we left our dorms to 430pm when we finished our last class, after which we were able to self-study what we learned that day and joined fun group activities where we collaborated and applied our knowledge. 

 

In our classes we had informative lectures with plenty of hands-on experience coding on our individual laptops. The professor and his two teaching assistants frequently checked in on our work to critique it if anything was wrong or needed to be fixed, so we had the benefit of valuable feedback from knowledgeable sources. 

 

The days went by pretty fast, but I was able to gain so much new information from this computer camp that I can apply to my future career path. This camp was definitely worth one week of my vacation as I was able to gain valuable experience and enjoyed my time as well. 

 

Jonathan Chun, Grade 10

West Ranch High School