Computing Exploration Day Event Proposal

Event Details
Event Title Computing Exploration Day

Event Date and Time October 24th 9 am to noon

Target Group(s) 9-12th grade High School Students with an interest in Computing

Proposed by Brittney Palmer/OAC Team

Hosting Organization Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Event Date(s) 9 am – noon on Saturday, October 24th

Venue Zoom

Amount Requested 3 scenarios- $0 or $3,257.64 or $5,257.64

Event Description
In years past, the Department of Computer Science and Engineering has hosted various events
for students interested in Computing. Several years ago, we hosted a Computer Science Day
where schools brought down teams of students to compete in a programming competition
and took a written exam: https://cse.unl.edu/~cseday/info/letter.php. Last year, this was
transitioned to CSE Hack Day where students were invited to compete in an all-day hackathon
and participate in a few workshops on specific computing topics. The schedule for this day has
been sent in an additional attachment. This year, COVID- 19 has compounded both our
recruitment and outreach efforts. This is when the idea for a Computing Exploration Day was
developed.

Computing Exploration Day has two main purposes in mind:

• Recruitment- Offer in-state and out-of-state prospective students a chance to meet

current students and faculty to learn more about the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
and our major offerings

• Outreach- To provide engaging lessons on various computing topics that will interest
high school students- some from rural schools with no access to computing courses

Our “choose your own adventure” planned day will allow students the opportunity to seek out
workshops that appeal to their interests. In our feedback from past participants, the number
one thing we heard is that participants wanted time to talk with current students.

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Proposed Program
A tentative schedule for the day has been developed by the committee of current students
based on previous events and our purpose for the event.

• 9:00-9:20 am Department Chair’s Welcome

• 9:20-9:45 am Student Panel

• See attachment for prompts that were used last year- this year’s questions are
still in progress

• 9:45-9:50 am Overview of the day9:50-10:20 am First Workshop of the Day

• 10:20-10:30 am Brain Break/Restroom/Stretch

• 10:30-11:00 am Second Workshop of the Day

• 11:00-11:30 am Third Workshop of the Day

• 11:30-12:00 pm Raffle (Must be present to win) /Industry Panel (Career Discussion)

• 12:00-12:15 pm Closing/ Raffle (Must be present to win)

• 12:15-1:00 pm Informal Conversation with Current Students

Feedback from previous attendees and current students indicate that hands-on/interactive
activities are the best ways to engage with our prospective students.

Suggested Activities by our Current Students

(Content Descriptions have not been fully developed)

I have placed tentative speakers in the chart below. Highlighted areas have some ideas but
have not been asked/identified.

Recruitment/Outreach
Why Computing?/ Majors Overview – Presentation (Presented by Brittney Palmer and
designated faculty)

Facility Tour- Visual Representation (Presented by an SRC Student Worker/Ambassador)

Intro to Game Development- To Be Determined (Presented by Game Dev. President

Jaden Goter and possibly Dr. Chris Bourke)

Intro to Github- Interactive presentation (Presented by Current Student Spencer

Stream)

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 Intro to Cybersecurity/Capture the Flag- Interactive presentation (Presented by Current
Student Allie Rauner)

Intro to Python- Interactive presentation TBD

Intro to Artificial Intelligence- Interactive presentation (Presented by Current Students

Keith Tran and Parul Aggarwal)

Coding 101- Interactive presentation TBD

Intro to Javascript TBD

Human Resource
In the past, a committee of current student volunteers was formed to create a schedule and
staff the day. A sign-up genius link has been created to enlist additional student volunteers to
present, monitor the workshops, and troubleshoot any technical issues.

The Venue
With COVID-19, large-person gatherings are very difficult to accommodate. For this reason, all
workshops/Sessions will be completed via zoom.

Equipment Needs
A video platform, Zoom, will be used. Any reasonable requests for equipment needed for the
workshops will be requested as well.

Scope of Work
Planning stages (Crossed off items have been completed)

1. Student volunteer committee meets biweekly to create the schedule and brainstorm
ideas

2. Reach out to potential professors and student volunteers that could assist with the day
(started but not completed)

➢ Request workshop descriptions from presenters and equipment needs from

presenters

3. Create google form and sign-up genius link to elicit more volunteers for the event

4. Create 4 email campaigns that will be sent by admissions to prospective students in

9th-12th grade

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 ➢ Collaborate with admissions to create registration link

5. Reach out to companies that could possibly sponsor the event (Started but not
completed, we will likely no longer be able to take this step)

6. Invitations sent via admissions starting September 24th

➢ Working with CoE Recruitment for additional marketing

7. Update the website, https://cse.unl.edu/computing-exploration-day, with the

schedule and details as they become available.

8. Meet with all presenters and volunteers to overview the logistics of the day

If funding became available

1. Purchase supplies listed in the Computing Exploration Day Budget

2. Design and order T-shirts to send in packages

3. Print informational letter to send in package to students

4. Put together packages

➢ Include breakfast bar, raffle ticket, t-shirt, microcontroller kit, and other UNL
items

Budget
In years past, we paid for the students 3 meals throughout the day, raffle prizes, and a few
student volunteers using money from event sponsors.

This year’s event can be done for $0. If we want to go above and beyond to stand out among
other institutions, we need to do something extra. A budget proposal was created for this
scenario and has been sent in an additional attachment. The proposed amount is $3,257.64 .
This budget has been given to the Director of Recruitment for the CoE.

A couple of sponsors were reached out to with a brief overview of the day. At this point in
time, we no longer have enough time to garner sponsorship. If we want to go above and
beyond, this additional cost would likely need to be covered by the department or CoE
Recruitment.

Evaluation
Participants will be sent a google form at the end of the day. They will be asked to complete
this brief survey during their raffle at the end of the day.

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