As we move through Fall, I'm missing one of the most draining but at the same time one of my favorite parts of the year. School recruiting visits. When I came to Hunter, I started the Daedalus CS Honors program. We started small but now, each year, we take in about fifty students, give them a laptop and a scholarship and all sorts of extras and bring them in for a great CS education at a fraction of the cost of say NYU or Columbia.

Almost four and a half years ago I left Stuyvesant and joined Hunter College. One of the initiatives I was charged with was the creation of a computer science honors program - the Daedalus scholars. Now, a little over four years later, our first cohort is graduating. I'm super proud of that first cohort and what we've collectively been building. I joined Hunter at the end of January 2016 - a month after college applications had closed.

Two of the challenges faced by young computer science students are finding the time to build independent projects for their portfolios and getting feedback from and networking with tech professionals. Enter Hunter Codefest 2020 <style> .flip { -webkit-transform: rotate(180deg); -moz-transform: rotate(180deg); -o-transform: rotate(180deg); -ms-transform: rotate(180deg); transform: rotate(180deg); } </style> <br clear="all"> Hunter, like most colleges has a Fall semester that runs from late August through the end of Decemeber and a Spring semester that starts at the end of January and runs through late may.

It's great to see how much Hunter CS has developed since starting here there years ago. The latest endeavor is Winter Codefest. During the fall I was approached by one of my students who had asked an older Hunter CS student about their portfolio and found that the senior's portfolio was lacking. This student said we should do something to help encourage younger students to build that portfolio. The result was Winter Codefest.

One of the bigger challenges faced at commuter schools is building a feeling of community. Students aren't on campus every day and come from far afield and even when they are on campus, we really don't have a CS "hang out" space. The space issue should be resolved soon - we're scheduled to get a CS student lounge next semester. I'm finding this to be even more of a challenge this year with my honors students.