Leesburg IT commissioners and Loudoun schools plan internships, cyber pathway and hackathons

Representatives from Loudoun County Public Schools told the Town of Leesburg Information Technology Commission Tuesday evening that LCPS has expanded K–12 computer science offerings and is seeking local industry partners to provide internships, externships, guest speakers and hackathon projects for students.

The presentation by Nick Rizzida, computer science supervisor for Loudoun County Public Schools, and Christina Lee, work-based learning coordinator for the Division of Career, Technical and Adult Education, summarized LCPS’s K–12 pipeline, the division’s experiential learning efforts and specific outreach opportunities for Leesburg businesses and town departments.

Rizzida said the division received a GO Virginia grant "for $2.4 million" that helped establish the current pipeline and that LCPS now integrates computer science across its 60 elementary schools and 18 middle schools and offers standalone secondary courses. "We offer more computer science courses than any other school division in the Commonwealth," he said, noting LCPS offers about 26 distinct computer science classes at the high school level and AP Computer Science A at all high schools.

Why it matters: LCPS said the expansion is creating student demand for local work-based learning and internships, and the division asked the commission and Leesburg business…