Columbia College and Summerville High will offer App Development Summer Camp with Apple Education

Columbia College is working with Summerville High School and the Apple Education team in Cupertino to pilot a new summer camp opportunity for underserved rural high school students using Apple’s Develop in Swift curriculum.

The program, funded by a three-year, $150,000 grant from the California Academic Partnership Program (CAPP) as a “Guided Pathways Alignment Project,” will provide selected students with hands-on experience in developing IOS applications for the Apple App Store. The aim is to peak their interest in technology careers and learn more about pathways into the field. In addition to the app development experience, students will spend time on the Columbia College campus and complete a half-unit guidance course for college-and-career readiness.

“This is a major accomplishment for Columbia and Summerville to provide training and education opportunities never available here before,” said Columbia President Dr. Lena Tran. “Upon completion of the Apple App camp, interested and motivated students will be exposed to the IT industry and will be encouraged to pursue careers in the field, with skills they can use to earn wages on par with Silicon Valley without having to leave the foothills.”

Summerville High School Principal Brett Christopher is eager to work with Columbia College and Apple representatives to develop this new enrichment opportunity. “This is the kind of experience that can change a student’s economic future,” he said. “We have students who will want to do this, and if we can get them excited and open their eyes to this early, it can really have a lasting effect.”

ipads will be provided to students to develop and design apps using Apple’s Swift coding language. The course will provide base level introduction to app development, with students encouraged to choose a community or campusfocused topic that can be addressed by an app that they will then develop as a group. Instruction is heavily focused on design with some beginning coding to give them a taste of the skills they will need, visualize how apps look and work, and give them an understanding of the steps needed for full app development.

An Apple Professional Learning Specialist will be on site for two days to train faculty involved, then will return for the first three days with students to kick off the camp.

Tran and Christopher are especially encouraged by the potential to grow this program to serve more high schoolers and to share what is learned with other rural areas through the CAPP network.

“The goal is to use this as a starting point to continue to offer similar opportunities to more students in partnership with Columbia,” Christopher said. “The exciting part is that this is all driven by an assessment of our students’ needs, and finding ways to give them opportunities that can set them up for success.”

For more information, contact Columbia College President Lena Tran’s office at (209) 588-5115.