Impact Stories: David

Every job in the future will involve technology. Computer Science ensures students will be ready.

David smiling

Sooner than we realize, every job and college classroom will involve technology. Yet, students are still leaving high school without being required to take even one computer science course.

This surprises David Resinos, an alumnus of Nextech Catapult, an immersive CS program for high school students.

“As long as I can remember, I was on computers. My parents came from Central America, and I remember my dad making me play old games on Windows XP because he wanted me to be tech literate,” David laughed. “We played all the time.”

David was lucky. Besides having a dad who pushed tech literacy, David attended Christel House Academy in Indianapolis—a school that, unlike others at the time, offered computer science courses (though they weren’t required for graduation). Because of that early interest, he took CS 1 and 2, joined Robotics Club and took part in a national cyber education program and competition. (“Our team advanced to the second round,” he proudly shared.)

Seeing all this, David’s computer science teacher suggested he apply to Catapult. Even though David didn’t “think too highly” of himself in computing, he was accepted.

At Catapult, David learned coding and workplace skills he will use wherever his career path takes him.

“During Catapult, we created a mock website for how we’d represent [a local pharmaceutical company] to the consumer. And before I left, I created my own portfolio website. So, no matter what field I went into as a career, I’d still have those skills and be able to apply them to my job.”

He is particularly grateful for one of those skills: the ability to think through what’s needed to achieve a goal.

“Thanks to computer science, I can set a goal and then algorithmically define every step in the process of getting there,” he said. “It’s honestly better than math because it’s more of a [spoken-word] approach. Most people think computing is hard, but it’s really just translating English into code.”

David and Governor Holcomb

Catapult also exposed him to state government and the legislative process. U.S. News & World Report wrote, “In the middle of a swarm of Indiana students, Gov. Eric Holcomb hunched his 6-foot-4-inch frame over a tablet, determined to build code that would save a princess. He eventually succeeded – with the help of a local high school student.”*

David was that student. “It was pretty cool,” he said.

David is now 21 and a college junior, having started at IUPUI and then transferred to Indiana University’s Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering. He’s a CS major specializing in data science because, in his view, “Data is running the world, and I really want to get in on the ground floor.”

David recommends that high school students today take a computing fundamentals class or do a program like Nextech Catapult before they graduate. Students use tech every day, of course, but that doesn’t mean they know the breadth of career possibilities in technology … or the role technology will play in everyone’s future.

“There will always be a new frontier in tech. To be future-proof and viable, you have to be educated in computing,” David said. “Not requiring computer science to graduate from high school is completely behind the times.”


P.S. “Another reason why I want to pursue tech is to help create tools for my own Hispanic culture. I don’t see a lot of Hispanic people in tech jobs, and I want to change that.”

*Kelly, Niki. U.S. News & World Report. “Rust Belt Makeover.” 15 January 2018.

David smiling

Sooner than we realize, every job and college classroom will involve technology. Yet, students are still leaving high school without being required to take even one computer science course.

This surprises David Resinos, an alumnus of Nextech Catapult, an immersive CS program for high school students.

“As long as I can remember, I was on computers. My parents came from Central America, and I remember my dad making me play old games on Windows XP because he wanted me to be tech literate,” David laughed. “We played all the time.”

David was lucky. Besides having a dad who pushed tech literacy, David attended Christel House Academy in Indianapolis—a school that, unlike others at the time, offered computer science courses (though they weren’t required for graduation). Because of that early interest, he took CS 1 and 2, joined Robotics Club and took part in a national cyber education program and competition. (“Our team advanced to the second round,” he proudly shared.)

Seeing all this, David’s computer science teacher suggested he apply to Catapult. Even though David didn’t “think too highly” of himself in computing, he was accepted.

At Catapult, David learned coding and workplace skills he will use wherever his career path takes him.

“During Catapult, we created a mock website for how we’d represent [a local pharmaceutical company] to the consumer. And before I left, I created my own portfolio website. So, no matter what field I went into as a career, I’d still have those skills and be able to apply them to my job.”

He is particularly grateful for one of those skills: the ability to think through what’s needed to achieve a goal.

“Thanks to computer science, I can set a goal and then algorithmically define every step in the process of getting there,” he said. “It’s honestly better than math because it’s more of a [spoken-word] approach. Most people think computing is hard, but it’s really just translating English into code.”

David and Holcomb - looking down

Catapult also exposed him to state government and the legislative process. U.S. News & World Report wrote, “In the middle of a swarm of Indiana students, Gov. Eric Holcomb hunched his 6-foot-4-inch frame over a tablet, determined to build code that would save a princess. He eventually succeeded – with the help of a local high school student.”*

David was that student. “It was pretty cool,” he said.

David is now 21 and a college junior, having started at IUPUI and then transferred to Indiana University’s Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering. He’s a CS major specializing in data science because, in his view, “Data is running the world, and I really want to get in on the ground floor.”

David recommends that high school students today take a computing fundamentals class or do a program like Nextech Catapult before they graduate. Students use tech every day, of course, but that doesn’t mean they know the breadth of career possibilities in technology … or the role technology will play in everyone’s future.

“There will always be a new frontier in tech. To be future-proof and viable, you have to be educated in computing,” David said. “Not requiring computer science to graduate from high school is completely behind the times.”


P.S. “Another reason why I want to pursue tech is to help create tools for my own Hispanic culture. I don’t see a lot of Hispanic people in tech jobs, and I want to change that.”

*Kelly, Niki. U.S. News & World Report. “Rust Belt Makeover.” 15 January 2018.

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