STEM Coding Lab Provides Valuable Work Experience for English Majors
Students from the Dietrich School’s Department of English are providing outreach and honing in-demand career skills as interns at STEM Coding Lab.
“STEM Coding Lab is the only nonprofit in Pittsburgh exclusively devoted to providing computer science education to the region's under-resourced youth,” says Casey Mindlin, STEM Coding Lab’s executive director. “Serving more than 2,000 kids throughout Pittsburgh, STEM Coding Lab's student reach grew by 257% in 2021 alone—growth that would not have been possible without the support we've received from University of Pittsburgh interns.”
The idea for a collaboration between the English Department and STEM Coding Lab came from Gayle Rogers, Andrew W. Mellon Professor and department chair, who saw parallels between the lab's work and the goals of students in the new Digital Narrative and Interactive Design (DNID) major. DNID combines coursework in English, computer Science and information science “to bring together the best of both worlds,” Rogers says.
Adds Rogers, “I saw what I thought would be a natural appeal between STEM Coding Lab’s mission and the nature of this DNID major. Most students in this major are not interested in creating first-person shooter games or the next Madden NFL game. They're interested in how creativity and coding can be harnessed for public good.”
“STEM Coding Lab seemed like a great opportunity, especially because we have so many students interested in it,” agrees Sarah Leavens, a teaching associate professor in the English Department. Leavens is the department’s internship coordinator and was very involved with creating the internship opportunity and partnership.
Rogers reached out to Mindlin, and together the team launched the funded internships. Interns play three major roles at STEM Coding Lab: teaching, research and communications.
“Oftentimes folks think of internships as pushing paper and getting coffee and those kinds of things. We absolutely do not view internships in that way,” Mindlin says. “We want to give the students at Pitt real-world experience and ask them to take on responsibilities that are central to the work of STEM Coding Lab.”
Leavens offers: “What I try to make sure every internship site does is provide students the opportunity to learn about what it is like to work in the field in this place, to be mentored personally by someone who works there, to have regular contact, to get feedback on their work, and to give the student the chance to do a bunch of writing, reading, and creating things for their internship that could be part of their portfolio in the future. It seemed like STEM Coding Lab was going to do all of that."
The internships provide a range of experience. Programming interns spend time in the classrooms, supporting teaching, interacting with students, and developing curriculum. The communications intern elevates the work that STEM Coding Lab is doing in the broader community via social media and external communications. The research intern unearths data demonstrating the importance of STEM Coding Lab’s work. Feedback from the interns has been very positive.
Michelle Petronino, a 2021 intern, focused on public relations and social media management.
“I had the very unique opportunity to create the brand from the ground up,” shares Petronino. “Although this was challenging, it was very interesting and taught me a lot about developing marketing and social media strategies to help boost engagement. I definitely enjoyed how creative I got to be in this role, and the team at STEM Coding Lab offered great insights and support.”
Morgan Kistler, a 2021 program intern at STEM Coding Lab, relayed similar sentiments.
“I enjoyed helping the students learn new concepts as it was very exciting when their code would ‘come to life’ through making their robot move or winning an online game. The staff at STEM Coding Lab are all very caring, welcoming and passionate about the work they do, which also made my time working with them very enjoyable,” says Kistler. “My work at STEM Coding Lab has helped me build foundational communication skills and foster a creative approach to teaching. For example, we would translate the concept of an algorithm into the understandable and engaging offline activity of building a paper airplane. This skill of being able to translate complex, domain-specific information to a broader audience is challenging but very valuable.”
Mindlin and Rogers both noted that potential interns may feel apprehensive about jumping into a coding role with little experience. While this is understandable, it need not be a barrier.
“We focus on Kindergarten through 8th grade students; the coding that we teach is very rudimentary,” says Mindlin. “It's not a prerequisite for folks to have computer-science experience for them to really impact the work of STEM Coding Lab in a substantial way.”
Rogers says: “I can't tell you how many times I’ve had the conversation where parents ask me, ‘What can my child do with an English degree?’ But employers say to me, ‘Please send us more English majors!’ because they want people who can write, they want people who can think creatively, and solve puzzles with words and narrative. There’s a little bit of a social puzzle to solve there, but I think this is a prime example of how those things can be worked out if we just think through the applications of it."
The collaboration has been a resounding success thus far and will continue into the future.
“The potential for academia to address community issues that have prevailed for far too long in Pittsburgh is boundless,” Mindlin observes. “I think that when universities hire people who are committed to not just their students and their students’ growth, but the communities surrounding them, then the potential for institutions like Pitt to ensure that the place we all love is as good as it can be is so great. I want to express my gratitude to the University of Pittsburgh for all they've done in support of our efforts to make Pittsburgh's economy more equitable.”