Warwick Valley High School freshman seeks to create club for computer programming

WARWICK — Jordan De Sotle, a freshman at Warwick Valley High School, recently spent the day in Manhattan at the Freedom Tower, pitching his maintenance activity application to leaders in the elevator industry.
He came up with the idea for the application after having a discussion with his uncle, an elevator mechanic, who explained how he kept all his maintenance records in a spiral bound notebook.
De Sotle immediately saw an opportunity to create an application that could track and schedule the maintenance and record it all in a centralized database that the entire company had access to.
The application is currently in its beta release with the elevator company. Further revisions and a mobile version are being developed.
This is where he got his startDe Sotle has been writing code since the seventh grade when he was introduced to a programming language called "Scratch" in Middle School computer lab instructor Tracey Waters' club, which met after school for interested students.
De Sotle now hopes to find other students who are interested in computer science to develop the next generation application.
He knows it will require more developers with different skill sets to complete. To achieve this, he has decided to create a club for students with a similar interest.
An environment that fosters competitionInstead of a pre-defined curriculum, the club would use commercial projects to gain experience. Local businesses would use the student resources to help develop simple applications, Websites, social media and other projects.
Nominal fees would be charged for the work. Fixed fees would be negotiated before any work began.
And all proceeds would go to the club for the purchase of equipment and additional education and certifications for club members.
De Sotle feels this type of environment would foster competition between the members and push them to continue to improve their skills.
However, he will need adult volunteers in the community to help establish policies, procedures, an organizational structure and to reach out to the business community.
Mentor, train, innovateOnce in place the students would govern the club with limited oversight.
The goals of the club are for the members to help mentor each other, learn basic business practices, innovate and provide funding for additional training through outside methods.
For additional information email jordandesotle@gmail.com.
- Roger Gavan