Strengthening Communities Grant with CodeCrew

Posted on 2016-04-28

The Department has been awarded a Strengthening Communities Initiative capacity building grant with community partner CodeCrew to develop a game design curriculum for high school students.

The funded project, named TigerCrew, is an education initiative that seeks to equip high school students in the Binghampton neighborhood (part of Midtown Memphis) with the skills and experience to fully participate in the increasingly STEM-reliant economy. Hosted at the CLOUD901 Teen Learning lab at the Memphis Public Library, the program will employ game development to teach high school students computer science concepts and programming skills, together with soft skills including leadership and public speaking.

The curriculum will be aligned with game development courses offered at the University of Memphis to help students transition smoothly into college.  TigerCrew's team members include Meka Egwuekwe of CodeCrew (a non-profit youth coding group), along with U of M Computer Science faculty members Kriangsiri Malasri and Vinhthuy Phan.

TigerCrew is funded with $18,500 from the Strengthening Communities Initiative (SCI), sponsored by the U of M's School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy.  More information can be found in the SCI April 2016 newsletter.