About

Dev Day Yuma is a one-day coding event for Yuma-area high school students.  We hope Dev Day Yuma will:

• Familiarize students with the process of developing software
• Provide students with an overview of the software profession
• Leave participants with an app they can use, play with or share with their friends
• Inspire interested students to explore software further

The software industry is exploding worldwide, yet there's a growing shortage of qualified software professionals.  That shortage is growing in Arizona as well.  Sadly, there's currently no state-funded computer science curriculum in Arizona's public high schools.  Dev Day Yuma is an effort on the part of Yuma's education leaders to give our region a head start on reversing the current trend.  We hope Dev Day Yuma will show students, parents and educators that creating software can be a fun, collaborative and rewarding experience.

Dev Day Yuma is a non-profit initiative to help Yuma-area high school students discover the exciting world of computer software.   Dev Day Yuma is sponsored by Yuma's leading educational institutions, including the Yuma County Superintendent's Office, Yuma Union High School District, the Southwest Technical Education District of Yuma (STEDY), the Yuma campus of the University of Arizona and Arizona Western College.  The Dev Day Yuma team consists of leaders from all of the aforementioned organizations.  The current Dev Day Yuma project was formed in the summer of 2016.

As of January 2017, Dev Day Yuma has acquired three additional sponsors: Helios Education Foundation (title sponsor), Trax International (lunch sponsor) and the Yuma County Chamber of Commerce (award sponsor) have all made great contributions that will make Dev Day Yuma's 2017 event possible.  Thanks much Dev Day Yuma sponsors! 

If you're interested in contributing to Dev Day Yuma, we welcome your support.  Please feel free to contact us or volunteer to be a mentor or a sponsor.  If you're a Yuma-area high school student, you can apply to participate in our 2017 event here.  Thanks for your interest in Dev Day Yuma!

• Students participating in the event will have the opportunity to complete one of several predefined software application exercises.
• The application exercises will utilize the Scratch development environment.
• Students are expected to work in teams of 2 to 3.
• Students can form teams ahead of the event or let Dev Day Yuma assign them to a team at the event.
• Students are welcome to name their team, though this is not required.
• Students can get help with the exercises from online resources, volunteer mentors, and fellow students/teams.
• Students can request a specific mentor, though Dev Day Yuma can’t guarantee that the requested mentor will be assigned to their team.
• Students can ask for help from any mentor during the event.
• Students are encouraged to collaborate with team members and other teams during the exercises.
• At the end of the work sessions, teams will be encouraged to share their app with nearby teams, and to review apps created by other teams.
• Students are welcome to familiarize themselves with exercises ahead of the event, though this is not required.
• Students are welcome to familiarize themselves with Scratch before the event, though this is not required.

• Mentors are asked to commit to one Dev Day Yuma event.
• Mentors are expected to participate in a seven-hour (one hour per week over seven weeks) training course prior to their first event.
• Mentors are expected to be available for the entire day of a Dev Day Yuma event.
• Mentors are expected to help any participants who request their help – even if the request comes from someone outside of their assigned teams.
• Mentors will be assigned 3-5 student teams, though all mentors are welcome to help any student or team during or prior to the Dev Day Yuma event.
• Mentors are encouraged to collaborate with other mentors and event organizers.