Full Sail University is collaborating with the Gordon Family Giving Foundation for this year’s CodeYourCity initiative in Orlando, also called CodeOrlando. The “Technology Odyssey” will span four weeks, from June 5 to June 30, with many of the events happening on Full Sail's campus.

“Each year, [the Gordon Family Giving Foundation] invites 25 youths that are in high school – from underserved and underrepresented communities in the areas of STEM – to come and experience field trips and be exposed to many different types of STEM careers,” explains Dr. Janet Gonzalez, Full Sail’s Community Engagement Specialist and one of several staff and faculty members working to make CodeOrlando a reality this year.

Through a series of workshops, guest speakers, and field trips, students will be able to explore their interests in several STEM areas, including game design, game development, software engineering, coding, programming, film, technology, and more.

Faculty members will be accompanying the students for the field trips around Orlando, including to the Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts, the Naval Air Warfare Center, and the College of Medicine.

Back at Full Sail, the high schoolers will be able to meet with and learn from several Full Sail faculty members, including Education Director for Emerging Technologies Dr. Haifa Maamar, Game Development and Computer Science Program Manager Shawn Kendall, and others. They will also have the opportunity to try out many of the industry-standard pieces of technology equipment on campus.

“[This collaboration] is part of Full Sail’s goal of being able to partner with schools in the community and build that foundation of lending our knowledge and our resources, sharing that with them, and getting them excited about the future and what part they're going to play in it,” remarks Dr. Gonzalez.

The Gordon Family Giving Foundation has also partnered with Dell for this year’s CodeOrlando to lend the students laptops to use when learning about different software at Full Sail, including Unreal Engine.