This past fall, 11 PHS and MHS students completed a free, seven-week data science bootcamp hosted by Big Data at Berkeley, a student-run nonprofit organization at UC Berkeley. The program aims to make data science education accessible to high school students, according to the Big Data at Berkeley website.
“Big Data at Berkeley is an organization that focuses on making data science accessible through its educational initiatives,” said Bill Taing, head instructor of the Big Data Bootcamp. “We’ve been running the bootcamps at least for the last eight or nine semesters.”
The bootcamp introduced students to the fundamentals of Python programming and data analysis through seven weekly meetings on the UC Berkeley campus. Students applied these skills by working in teams to analyze real-world datasets and present their findings at the end of the program.
Senior Rocco Salzer-Garcia, who participated in the bootcamp, said his group’s final project was about animals.
“My partner really likes animals, so we were analyzing the flight patterns of migratory birds and how far they travel,” Salzer-Garcia said.
Sophomore Austin White said he learned about the opportunity through his computer science teacher.
“Ms. Newell had a poster in the classroom and she talked about it a little bit,” White said.
White said he chose to participate because he was interested in learning more about computer science.
“I’ve always been a bit interested in computer science, and I figured why not,” White said.
White’s group’s final project focused on the relationship between college majors and employment. It consisted of different graphs such as a histogram, hex graph, and bubble graph.
“They’re all different visualizations of college major vs. employment,” White said. “Like which majors are correlated with higher or lower levels of employment.”
Jana Branisa, technology coordinator and computer science instructor, said she appreciated the opportunity the camp provided for students
“It’s a wonderful opportunity,” Branisa said. “What a wonderful outreach that Berkeley does.”
The Big Data at Berkeley Bootcamp will be run again in the spring. Applications are due in mid-February and can be found on the organization’s website.
