Recently, Rensselaer’s Talk Without Borders student group visited the Brighter Choice Charter School for Girls. Talk Without Borders is an enrichment program, sponsored by the Mueller Center at Rensselaer, that brings together students of all nationalities for volunteer projects that celebrate diversity. 

The group, comprised mostly of computer science students, presented to 60+ fifth grade girls to inspire them to pursue careers in STEM. They demonstrated the concept of computer science in a creative, fun way that inspired active participation as well as a few laughs!

Two Rensselaer students acted as “Computer A” and “Computer B” and challenged the children to give them commands to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. First, they were told to take out the bread. The computers removed all of the bread from the bag! Then, they were instructed to spread the peanut butter, but they couldn’t because the lid wasn’t removed from the jar yet. With each command and its subsequently unexpected execution, the students learned how much detail and specificity is required when coding.

College preparation is a central focus at the school. The classrooms are named after universities and one of their classrooms is called “RPI”! We look forward to seeing Brighter Choice alumni on campus in years to come.