Girls Who Code students Jessica Ericsson, Ella Onishuk, Madeline Rogers, Karleigh Dehlsen, Joy Patterson, and Amelia Kot with Nazia Hussain, systems administrator at Agilysys.  (Courtesy photo)

Santa Barbara High School Computer Science Academy has won recent grant awards from technology retail giant Best Buy and LogMeIn, Richard Johnston, director of the academy, has announced.

The Best Buy award will support the academy’s extensive extracurricular programming, while the award from LogMeIn will underwrite the academy’s Girls Who Code offerings.

“We’re thrilled to continue to earn the tech industry’s financial support,” Johnston said. “Best Buy’s grant will help us pay for computer science field trips, as well as our afterschool activities like the Robotics Club. The LogMeIn grant will specifically underwrite our outreach to girls.

“We’re very proud of the fact that, in our five-year history, the academy’s female enrollment has grown to 27 percent, and that girls make up a significant percentage of students in our computer-assisted art and design courses, as well as our art and design summer camps.”

On its website, Best Buy says: “Technology knowhow is crucial for young people preparing to enter the job market for the first time. Nearly 80 percent of jobs over the next decade will require tech skills.

“We are committed to giving underserved teens hands-on access to the tech education and tools they need to be prepared for the tech-reliant jobs of the future. That’s why we partner with local and regional nonprofits,” such as SBHS Computer Science Academy.

“Santa Barbara High School’s Computer Science Academy is a perfect match for Mission Possible, LogMeIn’s corporate social responsibility program, which supports access to STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) educational programs, develops youth digital skills, and aims to close the diversity and achievement gap in tech. Girls Who Code achieves all three,” said Amy Wendel, head of corporate social responsibility at LogMeIn.

(Mission Possible by LogMeIn’s grant was made through a company-advised fund at The Boston Foundation.)

SBHS’s Computer Science Academy was founded in 2013 in response to the gap between the workforce need for computer science competence and the absence of computer science coursework in the community.

It is an open academy, meaning any interested student may enroll in one or more classes, whether or not they commit to the full program, which offers coursework paths in art and design, web design, Java Developer and Elementary Developer. These can lead to an intermediate developer certificate or a master of code certificate.

For more about the SBHS Computer Science Academy, visit https://sbhscs.org/.

— Leslee Goodman for Santa Barbara High School.