2nd Annual South Carolina Computer Science and Stem Event held in Myrtle Beach

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — The South Carolina Computer Science and Stem Summit is back in Myrtle Beach for the second straight year.

The event goes from Monday until Tuesday.

Students from all around South Carolina met at the Sheraton Hotel and Resort for the event’s first student showcase.

An official with the State Department of Education, Eleanor Glover Gladney, said the purpose is to feature students’ abilities to incorporate science and stem in different projects.

“We wanted to focus at a certain time of year which is the third Monday in September to do the computer science summit,” Gladney said.

A variety of those projects were at the showcase on Monday, from videos, to circuits, to robots who were controlled by different coding.

“I brought the ‘Makey Makey’ thing with all the circuits and I brought a robot that’s coded,” one student said.

Gladney said one of the previous Department of Education representatives, Dominick Sanders, started the initiative for the computer science summit in 2022.

That came as a part of legislation when Gov. Henry McMaster wanted to focus on computer science programs for K-12 students.

“They want the females, they want the minority groups. Any unrepresented populations, that’s the other focus of that initiative in South Carolina,” Gladney said.

Gladney said about 250 students were scheduled to attend the event, with almost 150 of them signing up to showcase their projects.

“It’s mainly high school students, but we did have several groups of elementary students and they brought observers,” she said. “It was just wonderful to see the elementary group come in and just blend right in with the high school students and show interest. The students that had projects, the elementary school that had projects, they explained their projects to whomever came by their booth just like everybody else.”

Some students said the event is a helpful way to get ideas for future projects.

“I saw a really interesting presentation on the benefits and disadvantages of [artificial intelligence] being used in the real world and I think it was very insightful as to what our future may become,” one student said.

Gladney said when the event ends, her plan is to figure out what went well and what they can continue working on. She said improving what the state offers the students is most important.

She also said that South Carolina tied with Arkansas last year with the highest number of computer science students with a graduation credit.

Gladney said she loves watching the program and hopes it continues to grow.

Jackie LiBrizzi is a multimedia journalist at News13. Jackie is originally from Hamilton, New Jersey, and raised in Piedmont, South Carolina. Jackie joined the News13 team in June 2023 after she graduated as a student-athlete from the University of South Carolina in May 2023. Follow Jackie on Twitter , Facebook , or Instagram and read more of her work he r e .

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