University of Evansville student Tyra Baker of Dillsboro, Indiana, has earned a Gold Badge in coding through a partnership between the Independent Colleges of Indiana and Eleven Fifty Academy. Baker is majoring in economics at UE.

This was the second summer for Smart Launch Tech, a coding program designed for liberal arts students. One hundred percent of the 19 students from 14 private colleges around the state completed the month-long program on June 29, each earning the industry- and state-recognized Gold Badge Certification from Eleven Fifty, headquartered at Launch Fishers. 

The students learned the basics of HTML, CSS and Java Script in a four-week boot camp held on the campus of Franklin College during the month of June. They completed assignments demonstrating badge competencies and compiled an e-portfolio, presented at the end of the program. Featured speaker at the Gold Badge award ceremony was Scott Jones, founder of Eleven Fifty and veteran early-stage entrepreneur, inventor, strategist, and venture capitalist.

In addition to coding, students were exposed to the wide range of career possibilities within the tech field, including project and marketing management, data analysis, compliance, security, and design. Students also traveled to Indianapolis tech businesses including High Alpha, Pattern89, Kinney Group, and One Click.  During these visits, they had the chance to speak with company leaders and employees and gain exposure to tech working environments and protocols.

Smart Tech Launch was created to marry the technical skills of coding with the problem-solving approach of a liberal arts education.

“Technology alone is not enough,” Apple founder Steve Jobs said. “It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields results that makes our hearts sing.”

Funders for this summer’s program, made available to students free-of-charge, included ICI, a nonprofit association representing the 30 private, nonprofit colleges and universities in the Hoosier state; Eleven Fifty Academy, a nonprofit dedicated to producing technology and talent; and the Council of Independent Colleges through a venture fund grant.  Sustainability planning is now underway.