Across the nation, students of all ages logged onto laptops and desktops to participate in the Hour of Code. Groups of students filed into the multi-purpose room on Dec. 7 to try their hand at coding.

The Hour of Code is an hour-long program designed by code.org to encourage student to pursue learning code in school. It trains students to code in simplified “blocks” to achieve short goals.

“The hour of code is basically to practice coding with the help of teachers,” junior Sarah McAlister said. “There are different themes you can practice on [once you log into the hour of code website] including Minecraft or Frozen.”

Each level provided a different obstacle for student’s avatars to overcome. Students used different actions to move an avatar around and through obstacles. The website also tested users on the placement of code and problem solving abilities.

“I chose the Minecraft theme,” McAlister said. “It was supposedly the easiest one. I had trouble trying to move the person on the theme down.”

Programming teacher Brenda Qualls and others incentivised students with raffle prizes that were drawn periodically throughout the event. They offered posters, chargers, headphones and even included an android tablet.

“I wanted the VR, because they seemed pretty cool and I’ve seen others use them,” junior Jaden Purifoy said. “I even put one on my Christmas list.”

Courses teaching programming and related fields have multiplied in the past few years. Current classes vary in expertise level and include Programming I, Intro to Mobile Application Development and AP Computer Science Principles. Purifoy is enrolled in Programming I and is in her second coding-related course.

“I took Introduction to Mobile Application Development last year and I fell in love with it, so I thought, ‘Why not do it again?’” Purifoy said.

The goal of the Hour of Code is to increase course enrollment and knowledge about programming.

“Without programmers, we wouldn’t have apps like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter,” Purifoy said. “The world wouldn’t survive without them.”