BLECKLEY COUNTY, Ga. — A Central Georgia high school offers students a digital technology class that could turn into a job after graduation.
At Bleckley County High, students aren't only experiencing digital technology, they're also creating the virtual reality making them our School of the Week!
Bleckley County High School senior Dalton Shepard practices using a virtual reality program, he could one day create himself.
"You can do almost anything on a computer, but learning how to make the computer do that would help a lot," he said.
Shepard's interest in coding began as a kid playing video games. Now that he's older, he's wants to learn how to create them.
"What you write down in the code tells the program what it needs to do," Shepard said.
That's exactly what he's learning through a new digital technology course taught by Randy Thompson at Bleckley County High School.
"We have partnered with a company named ViziTech and this is a three year program that our kids will be involved in with an opportunity to go right into the computer science field," Thompson said.
Vizi Tech President Stewart Rodeheaver supplies the class with virtual reality goggles and computer software to give hands on training.
"You can actually reach into the computer with a pen, pull a heart out in the air, hold it in your hand and feel the heartbeat. You can take it apart, work on it, put it back together and put it back in the computer. We don't want them to just be able to do that, we want them to be able to build that, and know how to make that program and how to do that programming," Rodeheaver said.
Rodeheaver says coding jobs are in high demand, so much so, he made a special agreement with Superintendent Steve Smith for the students who complete the course.
"I agreed with him that I'd hire the top two graduates out of his class every year," Rodeheaver said.
"It just feels like once I graduate, there's going to be a lot of opportunities," Shepard said.
Rodeheaver says the salary for an entry-level computer science position can range from $40,000-$60,000.
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