Computer Science Academy
The Computer Science and Technology Academy (also CSA or Comp Sci) is a four-year program meant to immerse students in the field of computer science early, allowing them to be highly prepared when they enter an undergraduate program. As an academy as opposed to a learning center, students still take those classes that they are most prepared for outside of the academy. Many of the classes the students take are honors or advanced placement.
The academy's classes are designed to give students a little taste of everything with the following three goals:
- To give students a solid and rigorous background in computer science principles, including the requisite mathematical foundations.
- To build proficiency in the problem solving techniques of Computer Science.
- To provide graduates of the Academy with the background and the skills necessary to continue their education in college.
The four computer science and four math classes are as follows:
Freshman Year
- Honors Computer Science I: Java
- Honors CS Math I: Honors Geometry and Discrete mathematics
Sophomore Year
- Honors Computer Science II: Visual Basic and Java (applets)
- Honors CS Math II: Honors Algebra 2 and Discrete mathematics
Junior Year
- Honors Computer Science III: Java in preparation for either the AP Computer Science A exam or AP Computer Science AB exam
- (Honors) Pre-Calculus
Senior Year
- Honors Computer Science IV: C++ and SQL using Microsoft Access
- A Senior Project is also completely in which 1 to 2 students work on a project of their choosing in any field of computer science. Past projects have included instant messaging programs, 64-bit games, and AI programs.
- Either AP Calculus (AB or BC) or AP Statistics
The computer science math courses include discrete math topics such as graph theory and Boolean algebra.
The Comp Sci Academy has also won a number of computer competitions, participating in events including the ACSL All-Star round for several years. In 2005, the Freehold High School five-person team came in fourth in the Senior Division of the American Computer Science League 2005-06 International All-Star Competition. The academy has also won the New Jersey Institute of Technology high school programming contest, in 2006 (7 of 8 programs complete) and 2008 (8 of 8 programs complete). This was the first time in the competition's history that a team has won twice, and only the second time all 8 programs have been completed. Two teams later won first place in the NJIT high school programming contest in 2011 with 7 out of 8 programs completed and fourth place in 2011's ACSL All-Stars contest for the five-person Senior Division. The 2012 Senior 5 Team won first place in the international ACSL All-Stars contest.
Graduates from the Computer Science Academy have gone on to work at Microsoft and Apple.
Read more about this topic: Freehold High School
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