High school students welcomed to ‘Stanford family’

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Dozens of high school students were logging on – from New York City to Topeka, Kansas, to Waipahu, Hawaii – for an unusual Stanford award ceremony: These teenagers, all from Title 1 high schools serving low-income communities, were the first cohort to complete a Stanford introductory computer science course offered to high school students through the nonprofit National Education Equity Lab.

Students at Birmingham Community Charter High School in Los Angeles, California, were one of 15 high school classes nationwide to take a novel Stanford computer science course. (Image credit: William Youngblood)

The Dec. 13 Zoom gathering marked this milestone for the students with parents, teachers and others from Stanford and the Ed Equity Lab joining the celebration. The students had passed “Computer Science 105: Introduction to Computers,” earning both college and high school credits.

“You are all a part of the Stanford family now,” said the honorary guest speaker, Jason Collins ’01, the Cardinal All-American basketball star who played 13 seasons in the NBA. Collins surprised the students with a personal note: He had taken the same course while at Stanford. “I know exactly how hard this class is, the class that you went through,” he said. “I can’t wait to see what you will be doing 10 years from now.”