In 1990, Mike Zamansky left his job as a software engineer for Goldman Sachs and entered the teaching profession. A few years later, at New York City’s prestigious Stuyvesant High School, he noticed a lack of opportunities for students to study computer science and related field. This started a twenty year journey to try to share his passion for computer science with youngsters and inspire them to go on to do great things in technology related fields.
Over the years Mike was joined by master teachers like JonAlf Dyrland-Weaver and Samuel Konstantinovich. Together, at Stuyvesant High School they have designed new courses, trained new teachers, run after school and summer programs, and built a community of Stuyvesant Computer Science Alumni that now permeate the Tech Industry.
Having dealt with the frustrations of working within the system to try to bring more opportunities to more youngsters and inspired by their alumni community, Mike, Sam, and JonAlf, have joined with Jennifer Hsu and Artie Jordan along with other members of the Stuy CS Community to form CSTUY, Computer Science and Technology for Urban Youth. An organization dedicated to bringing computer science and technology related educational opportunities to high school and middle school students.
What makes us different
Real teachers
Computer Science as a field faces a real dilemma. Due to licensing restrictions, there are very few teachers with strong computer science backgrounds. The flip side is that teaching is an art and a difficult one at that. The ability to teach at more than the most superficial level takes years to develop.
Most existing computer science programs are run by volunteers with limited teaching experience or by teachers with limited tech knowledge.
CSTUY has the advantage of having master teachers with strong technical backgrounds with a history of not only delivering inspirational instruction but also of developing courses and course sequences that are time tested.
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