On December 10th, 2021, Ms. Dinah Dean’s AP Computer Science Principles class went to the Illinois Institute of Technology on a field trip to tour the campus. Ms. Dean has connections to the school, and the institute is one of the best in the country when it comes down to the technology field.
Sophomore Kyle Litwin is a member of the AP Computer Science Principles class and attended the field trip. They first toured the dorms and the different classroom settings for students to get a feel of what college is really like. “It was neat to see living areas being used in action,” said Litwin. As a student in high school, it is extremely beneficial to get a real college experience because it can really open up a student’s eyes to their future. A lot of the time, the college experience is fabricated by movies and the media, but seeing it in person can change a student’s perspective.
Next, the students went into a Computer Science class and listened to speeches from professors and students of the school. The speeches were geared towards the reliance on computers in everyday life and how technology is continuously becoming more prevalent. “The speeches were beneficial to me because they gave me a new insight on things I have been learning about for the past semester. These students are much more experienced and wise, so it was cool to hear their thoughts and their own discoveries in the field of technology,” Litwin said. The tour then took students to view projects designed by IIT students.
After the field trip, Litwin realized each assignment matters and constitutes towards one’s knowledge of their future career field. Assignments he may have considered “silly” or “a waste of time” are actually hugely beneficial to the path of pursuing the technology field. “A lot of the time, I will be sitting at home doing homework and thinking why am I doing this. Seeing the things I do being used at a higher level really opened my eyes to different career paths and how each step is crucial towards the end goal,” Litwin said. This field trip was a further experience for the students of De La Salle Institute to begin thinking about their post-secondary plans and get real-world experience!
