SIGCSE 2010 Conference

By Ifeanyi Onwumah

As a newly declared Computer Studies major, I am very excited about learning all that I can about the computer science world and all that it has to offer. In today’s society, there s hardly any aspect of our lives that isn’t somewhat computerized. My goal as a computer science student is to explore this aspect of our everyday lives as much as I can and if possible, make my own contributions to it. One of the ways that I chose to explore the computer science world was by attending the annual SIGCSE Conference.

SIGCSE stands for Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education and the conference is held annually at different locations all around the country. This year it was held at the Midwest Airlines Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. SIGCSE is focused on commemorating the new advancements that have been made in the computer science world and the way that these advancements can be implemented in mostly higher education classrooms and some lower grade levels. Based on this, SIGCSE is a more Professor/Teacher friendly conference but it still has a place for students.

Students were allowed to attend all the available workshops (although most were very expensive!) depending on what peaked their interest. I attended a workshop on games (Who doesn’t love video games?) and a workshop that prepared computer science undergraduates for graduate school. I also attended an ALICE workshop (ALICE is a 3-D virtual world programming software that Saint Xavier currently uses to teach basic programming). These workshops were packed with information that was essential to giving anyone who was interested, a leg-up in the field of computer science.

Volunterring at SIGCSE

Outside of the conference, I was able to explore Milwaukee a little bit and travel within the downtown area. Compared to Chicago, Milwaukee is a very small city, which makes traveling around a lot easier. Along with other students from the school, I visited several restaurants, malls, and other places of interest in Milwaukee. Since I came to the United States, this was the first time I traveled out of Illinois and I was very curious to see how things were beyond the state borders.

I had a wonderful experience at Milwaukee and attending another conference is something I am definitely looking forward to. I plan on jumping on any chance I get to travel especially when it is geared towards my education. This is something that I would definitely recommend to any and everybody because it makes learning a little more exciting and interesting. It also is an opportunity to broaden your horizons to extents you never imagined possible!

Ifeanyi Onwumah is a sophomore philosophy major from South Holland. He participates in several campus clubs. Consideration for the student bloggers is provided by Saint Xavier University.