Google will award a $150,000 grant to the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council and hold a hands-on coding carnival at the Iowa State Fair to help promote computer science education in Iowa, the company announced Tuesday.
The grant will help support the STEM Advisory Council’s mission to increase awareness, achievement and interest in STEM education among students in Iowa.
There are projected to be more than half a million new STEM job opportunities in the US by 2029, including some in Iowa. This collective effort is helping to set Iowa students up for success in meeting this demand with programs such as the Elementary Computer Science Mentoring Program, the Future-Ready Iowa STEM Summit 2022, Scale-Up i Iowa STEM and the Iowa STEM Teacher Externship Program. Not only will these students benefit from economic opportunity from developing these skills, but they will directly shape the future, according to a press release from Google.
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“I’m proud of the partnership between Google and the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council and Google’s commitment to preparing our students for a better tomorrow,” Gov. Kim Reynolds said in the press release. “Public-private partnerships are so critical if we expect our future workforce to have the skills needed for high-demand jobs in our state. Through Google’s investment, they understand the value and importance of STEM education in our schools and the access our students will have to hands-on, cutting-edge technology that will ultimately prepare them to be successful and ready for career.”
The Google Coding Carnival at the Iowa State Fair will help students understand how computer science skills can impact industries in their backyard such as agriculture, wildlife, health care and sports, the release said for press.
The Google Coding Carnival will be open throughout the 10-day fair and will be located in a tent on the lawn near the Jacobson Center. Through interactive games like Corn Catcher and Cookie Scoop, students and fairgoers will have the opportunity to create codes and solve brain teasers for a chance to win prizes.
Games in the coding carnival tent include:
Impossible Computer Science Gallery
4-H + Google Problem Solving Puzzles
“Google has been committed to helping Iowa grow since opening in 2007,” said Dan Harbeke, head of Public Policy and External Affairs at Google in Council Bluffs. “We know that education is the foundation of a highly skilled workforce and vibrant communities, and we are redoubling our efforts to provide access to a computer science education that will not only prepare students for the jobs of tomorrow , but it will also help us keep them here in Iowa.”
Google has called Iowa home for more than a decade, and its first data center in Council Bluffs went online in 2009. Since then, Google has invested more than $5 billion in Iowa and has create a long-term commitment to the state. Google has created jobs for more than 900 people at its Iowa facility and has given more than $3 million to local schools and nonprofits in Iowa.