Newest two teachers at VUJC only seventeen years old

Two seventeen-year-old students from Pike Central are Vincennes University Jasper Campus’ newest teachers, but it’s not surprising the two are teaching one of the fastest growing industries in the world.

Jared Lamberson and Zach Riddle have taken part in a special program offered at Pike Central called Project Lead the Way since their freshman years. Project Lead the Way is a national program of rigorous and innovative Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics used in middle and high schools. Students from the course taught by Ray Niehaus have been involved in many interesting projects. Most recently, several students were featured at the White House Science Fair for an innovative shelter they developed for disaster relief.

But these two are really good at designing apps for iPhones.  They have even taught programming at local high schools, so when Jim McFaul, VUJC’s Director of Continuing Education, contacted Niehaus about offering a new technical class for the VUJC Kids’ College, Niehaus immediately suggested Lamberson and Riddle could  teach an app development class for the university.

Having the class taught by two teens is a first for VUJC, but the two came highly recommended by Niehaus and other teachers at Pike Central. McFaul saw the opportunity to provide a class in one of world’s fastest growing fields as a plus and, recognizing the talent the pair had, he gave them the teaching positions for the Kids’ College course.

“With the rise of smartphones and tablets, mobile applications have grown faster than anyone could have anticipated. This is a perfect timing for this type of class,” McFaul said.

Lamberson and Riddle had some reservation about teaching the class. “With the age group involved we thought we might have to do a lot of redirecting,” Lamberson said, but the two have been surprised by how interested the students are and how fast they have learned the building blocks.

“It is impressive what the kids have accomplished in three days,” Riddle said. “but we are using the same teaching style Mr. Niehaus uses with us.”

The style is goal-based with the students choosing the goal. “We asked the kids what they wanted kind of app they wanted to build,” Lamberson said. “They wanted to make a game. So we gave them the tools to build the game and just help them along the way.”

Now, all nine of the university’s new Macbook screens display the beginnings of a simple iPhone game. Each screen is a bit different as the students have added their own personalities to the app’s appearance. The students have taken the building blocks and adapted to them so fast that Riddle has even found himself stumped a few times when they want to go a bit further. “They (students) ask me if they can make the app do something new,” he said, “and I have had to say ‘sure, I’ll show you right after I look it up’.”

The class is also designed to build communication skills, problem solving and confidence as they develop their abilities to create and innovate within programming software. Riddle and Lamberson agree that this is one of the most valuable skills they have learned through Project Lead the Way. “Our favorite part of developing new ideas is the collaboration,” Riddle said, “the success as a group as we work towards the goal. Communication and interpersonal skills are very important to accomplish that.”

The two teens are having a great time and besides the experience they appreciate the opportunity to work teaching something they love to do. “This is great,” Lamberson said, “considering we could be working in a fast food place for our summer jobs.

For additional details call about VUJC’s Kids’ College call 812-481-5909.