Clarendon Hall honored for teaching code

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SUMMERTON - Clarendon Hall and AP Computer Science teacher Amy Magaw were honored recently by Code.org for being on the cutting edge of technology by teaching students code. The letter was sent in recognition of the 2017-18 academic year in which the school had four students pass the AP Computer Science Principles Course. Clarendon Hall first implemented coding in its curriculum in the 2017-18 school year, and AP Computer Science Principles and AP Testing are course requirements.

In the letter to Clarendon Hall, Code.org's Hadi Partovi stated, "This year, more than 135,000 students took the AP Computer Science exam This growth was driven more than anything else by schools like yours growing participation." Partovi continued, "These historic numbers are a huge part of the reason we are seeing districts, states, and countries across the globe follow in your footsteps."

Headmaster Phillip Rizzo Jr., who implemented the course as part of the curriculum, stated, "Clarendon Hall was early to implement code as part of our curriculum, and we were the first in the area to do AP Testing for college credit. I am very proud of Mrs. Magaw and the students."

In addition to teaching coding at Clarendon Hall, Magaw has become a Certified Independent Facilitator working in cooperation with Code.org, providing seminars and training for both the South Carolina Independent School Association and public schools around the state. According to the letter from Code.org, Clarendon Hall will be celebrated on its website, code.org/educate/csp/hall-of-fame, and on Twitter @codeorg.

Clarendon Hall is located at 1140 S. Dukes St. in Summerton. For more information, contact the school office at (803) 485-3550 or visit the website at www.clarendonhall.org.