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Comment by dylan604 | Hacker News Reader

> False colour composites were something I was introduced to in high school GIS

As an old guy, this is something I'm jealous of in a positive way. I'm impressed that schools are offering this type of subject. My senior year was the first year to introduce a "computer science" class where I learned PASCAL on an Apple SE/30. The year after I graduated, the school created an actual computer lab. To be honest, I haven't even thought about looking to see what is available in schools today, but nice to hear something positive

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I want to share a bit about this becuase it is dear to me.

My public high school was a "Geography / GIS magnet school" because some unnamed retired geography teacher donated a very large sum to make it happen. I was an underachieving student with no ambitions to go anywhere, doing just enough to pass. The geography program teacher pulled me aside and encouraged me to sign up for Grade 10 GIS the next year. It became my first academic passion and my entire life pivoted.

I studied GIS/remote sensing every year. I participated in Skills Canada a few times, eventually going the full distance by winning gold at the regional and provincial levels. I was accepted to University for GIS/Remote Sensing. I earned a BES, defended a thesis, earned an MSc, won a national award for GIS, and got into remote sensing + robotics as a career, which I'm still doing ~15 years later.

I don't think I have the words to really describe just how thankful I am for everything teachers and professors did along the way to support and encourage people like me.

I had a math teacher do something similar. He recognized that I was avoiding things by hanging out in his classroom. He decided that if I was going to stay in a maths room, I "clearly wanted to learn more maths" so he taught me more maths. And I soaked up as much as I could and it set me on a path as well. I'm thankful I had 3 teachers that took time and provided me that little extra that lasts a lifetime

When I was a kid you would get yelled at or even outright banned from using a computer if they found out you where programming. I printed out programming code and read it at home like if it where magical runes.

My kids follow STEM here in Belgium, and there were multiple times when I thought "If only I could do those things when I was young".

At 12 years old, they get an Arduino and start programming in C. Then over the years they do all kinds of interesting things with it: build a car with controlled acceleration, build a tiny house with all kinds of sensors and controllers, monitor algae breeding.

When my son was 16, they brewed their own beer (Hey, it's Belgium and they can legally drink at 16 :D)

Now in the final year, they can propose their own projects. I heard previous years did things like create their own windmill and analyse the efficiency, electric generators in rain drainpipe, etc.

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