Education changes so quickly that it is often difficult to keep up with the our professional associations. So, in case you haven’t had the chance to Google the newest members of the CSTA Board of Directors I decided to “virtually” sit down with the new Directors that I met in June, ask them some questions, and share these introductions with you.
Brian Scarbeau is our Board’s newest 9-12 Teacher Representative. Brian is currently working at Lake Highland Preparatory School and brings not only computer science knowledge, but enthusiasm to the Board. Last year, Brian launched the “Grace Hopper Day” to be held at schools to help students and guidance counselors understand more about computer science.
Where are you from and what are you doing now in addition to being one of CSTA’s newest Board members?
I am from The City Beautiful, Orlando, FL. I am a Microsoft MVP and I help teachers and professionals work with ASP.NET and XNA (both programming packages). I am also the user group leader for Dotnetnuke, which is an open source framework for creating Enterprise Web Applications.
It sounds like you have a lot of computing knowledge, what got you started in education?
I was a recreation leader for a summer job and wanted to work with kids.
Why computer science education?
I sold Apple IIe computers and the IBM PC and I’ve worked on all kinds of hardware. I enjoy computer science education because its challenging and fun to teach.
CSTA has a clearly defined mission statement as well as purpose listed on the front page of our website, for you personally which of the statements from CSTA’s purpose has the most significance?
This statement:
Provide teachers with opportunities for high quality professional development.
CSTA has sponsored a symposium for professionals that is by far the best professional development opportunity for cs teachers. The CS&IT symposium has been an event held after the National Education Computing Conference each year. I have had opportunities to go to this event as a speaker and as a participant. I look forward to going every year.
Enough about the serious stuff, what do you like to do other than teach?
I love being with my family and like to golf.
Is there anything else you would like to mention to help the membership get to know you better?
I’m tall, dark, and handsome.
Clearly Brian will be an asset to the organization and our board of directors. If you are interested in his work with Grace Hopper Day you can check out his website at: http://sws.lhps.org/computerscienceed.
I invite you to leave a comment and ask him any questions you might have to get to know him better :) and watch for the next two installments in this series where I introduce other new Board members to you!
Leigh Ann Sudol
CSTA Communications Chair