The Wyoming Legislature recently passed a bill making it mandatory for all schools to offer computer science to students.

Computer Science and Robotics teacher Mr. Joel Hayano, senior Hattie Pimentel, senior Rhett Pimentel and junior Alan Merritt have gone down to Casper and Cheyenne to witness firsthand the Legislature’s thoughts on the new computer science bill passed by the Senate multiple times during the school year.

Wyoming officials were looking for ways to diversify Wyoming’s economy; a good way to boost an estimated $30 million worth of computer science jobs still open in Wyoming. The industry has a greater demand for robotics and computer science since everything is driven by computer programming, such as your phone.

Along with the passing of this bill, there needs to be an increase on teachers trained to be qualified, which also depends on the grade level being taught computer science. This opens up more opportunities for teachers interested in teaching computer science as well.

This also affects both the Hathaway curriculum along with the graduation requirements of all Wyoming high schools.

“We already offer computer science courses,” Mr. Hayano said. “There are other schools around the state that don’t.”

Some students may find this as a disadvantage, but it comes with advantages as well.

Students can use a computer science class for a science credit; three science credits are a minimum for graduation. For the Hathaway scholarship, this can replace a math credit.

“My classes will become bigger because more kids will take the class,” Mr. Hayano said. “We might have to start offering other things or have more sections of computer science.”

For the students who want to go above and beyond the requirements, they can take computer science to either boost their science or math credits, depending on what interests them and what they may pursue in the future.

“I thought it would be a cool experience [to go down and witness the meeting sessions],” senior Hattie Pimentel said.”It doesn’t affect me, but it will put computer science in all schools so students have access to these classes.”

The group of five went to Casper and Cheyenne for meetings and sessions to hear discussions over this bill during the school year.

“We first went to Casper for the Joint Education and Revenue committees meeting and went to Cheyenne for the legislative session,” Pimentel said.

With this bill, which takes effect in 2022, computer science will have its own standards created by the state educators and will not only add to the student’s education, but it may spark something inside them to reveal an interest in this field they may not have discovered yet. It helps students become more exposed to potential job opportunities in the state for the future.