CTE Expo 2026
Date: May 21st
Location: DNHS QUAD
Extra Credit Theme: What you saw and what you learned?
Proof of Experience
Caption: Here are a couple of pictures of interesting stands I visited at the CTE expo!
Before the Event
I expected to see demonstrations of different classes and what they've learned/done throughout the year. Specifically in the computer science booth, I expected to see many gamified projects utilizing the game engine v1.1
Curiosity Before Attending
I was curious about the types of projects CSP has been working on, and how they have gamified lessons/ideas, and what new, fresh things they have created
What I Saw
I visited most/all booths, including the PLTW booths for the elementary/middle schools, engineering booths from our school and others, art, agriculture, and computer science. I saw multiple computer science groups as I stayed to see different projects as they cycled through.
Most Interesting Thing I Saw
The most interesting thing I saw was one of the CSP projects that included a multiplayer tag game where one person was "it" and could tag the other players. It interested me because it worked on all devices, and they were telling me about how it could support even 20 classmates joining at the same time. Additionally, it was a fun game and an interesting use of the game engine/code runner
What I Learned
I learned about the projects CSP was making using the game engine v1.1 I helped work on, which was a really cool experience.
What Surprised Me
One of the projects that surprised me the most was a "tag" game project. It surprised me because the owners of the game told me about the multiplayer function they added and how the game was able to support all of their classmates due to the game engine, which was really cool.
What Inspired Me
I was inspired by all the cool features added to many of the projects I saw. For example, the login, the templates in OCS, the profile, and more.
Personal Connection
These features connect to my personal project as they gave me inspiration to think about adding to my own project or future projects. For example, after leaving the expo, I worked more on the help system in my personal project for compsci to include some of these features, like a settings page with more options for the user to customize their experience
Interaction
Person or group I learned from: Two CSP students I talked to were Salma and Sophie (if I'm remembering the names correctly!)
They showed me their project where they used gamification to show off different compsci concepts they learned. For example, one of the impressive things they showed was their multiplayer features
Depth of Experience
This event changed my mindset on my audience for these projects I'm creating. By seeing all of the people that came to look at the projects, young and old, they showed the common struggles/confusions constant in these projects (like lack of help systems or tutorials)
Connection to CS or Future Goals
This connects to my CS personal project that I'm doing right now because it showed the kind of things I need to add to my own project to make it more accessible for all.
Final Reflection
Overall, this event was meaningful because it was so eye-opening to see all the projects people around me were working on in CSP and the people working on OCS projects in CSA. Even without presenting, I learned a lot about the audience behind these kinds of projects, which was really helpful in thinking about future features to add to my own project to make it more accessible to all, because my main focus in this project is outreach of the message and organization, and the best way to do that is by adding accessibility!
Biggest Takeaway
My biggest takeaway from this is to know your audience, and to make sure that your project will work for all people, because even if it makes sense to you, someone else may not understand how to play your game/work your project without a tutorial or introduction
CTE Expo 2026
Date: May 21st
Location: DNHS QUAD
Extra Credit Theme: What you saw and what you learned?
Proof of Experience
Caption: Here are a couple of pictures of interesting stands I visited at the CTE expo!
Before the Event
I expected to see demonstrations of different classes and what they've learned/done throughout the year. Specifically in the computer science booth, I expected to see many gamified projects utilizing the game engine v1.1
Curiosity Before Attending
I was curious about the types of projects CSP has been working on, and how they have gamified lessons/ideas, and what new, fresh things they have created
What I Saw
I visited most/all booths, including the PLTW booths for the elementary/middle schools, engineering booths from our school and others, art, agriculture, and computer science. I saw multiple computer science groups as I stayed to see different projects as they cycled through.
Most Interesting Thing I Saw
The most interesting thing I saw was one of the CSP projects that included a multiplayer tag game where one person was "it" and could tag the other players. It interested me because it worked on all devices, and they were telling me about how it could support even 20 classmates joining at the same time. Additionally, it was a fun game and an interesting use of the game engine/code runner
What I Learned
I learned about the projects CSP was making using the game engine v1.1 I helped work on, which was a really cool experience.
What Surprised Me
One of the projects that surprised me the most was a "tag" game project. It surprised me because the owners of the game told me about the multiplayer function they added and how the game was able to support all of their classmates due to the game engine, which was really cool.
What Inspired Me
I was inspired by all the cool features added to many of the projects I saw. For example, the login, the templates in OCS, the profile, and more.
Personal Connection
These features connect to my personal project as they gave me inspiration to think about adding to my own project or future projects. For example, after leaving the expo, I worked more on the help system in my personal project for compsci to include some of these features, like a settings page with more options for the user to customize their experience
Interaction
Person or group I learned from: Two CSP students I talked to were Salma and Sophie (if I'm remembering the names correctly!)
They showed me their project where they used gamification to show off different compsci concepts they learned. For example, one of the impressive things they showed was their multiplayer features
Depth of Experience
This event changed my mindset on my audience for these projects I'm creating. By seeing all of the people that came to look at the projects, young and old, they showed the common struggles/confusions constant in these projects (like lack of help systems or tutorials)
Connection to CS or Future Goals
This connects to my CS personal project that I'm doing right now because it showed the kind of things I need to add to my own project to make it more accessible for all.
Final Reflection
Overall, this event was meaningful because it was so eye-opening to see all the projects people around me were working on in CSP and the people working on OCS projects in CSA. Even without presenting, I learned a lot about the audience behind these kinds of projects, which was really helpful in thinking about future features to add to my own project to make it more accessible to all, because my main focus in this project is outreach of the message and organization, and the best way to do that is by adding accessibility!
Biggest Takeaway