Pathways Magazine - Winter 2022 Edition

“Hour of Code” Introduces Learners to
Exciting and Growing Field
An $80,000-plus annual salary, a career turning
creative ideas into video games and data visualizations,
even a Bronze Star in the U.S. Army
— all these and much more can come your way
if you learn skills in the expanding world of
computer coding.
That’s the message graduation candidates at
Acceleration Academies across the nation heard
recently as educators invited them to participate
in the Hour of Code event during National Computer
Science Education Week.
“I never would have thought that I would be an
IT person, but for me it changed my life,” said
Brandy Gordon, the career and life coach at Wichita
Acceleration Academies.
Gordon spent 13 years in the U.S. Army, entering
as a skilled vehicle mechanic but recruited to join
the satellite communications team helping coordinate
battles in Afghanistan and other war zones.
She told the GCs, “We literally had lines where
the president was talking to the generals, so having
those lines operating was critical.”
Gordon learned so much about coding and other
technology that she was able to overhaul a troubled
system at a key point in the conflict, earning
her a Bronze Star for service.
10 Pathways | Winter 2022