The College of Technology at Columbus hosted 21 6th-9th graders at its inaugural Computer Animation Camp in early June. The four-day camp introduced students to the Alice programming language to create animated stories and commercials. The week culminated with a competition to create commercials that were judged by guests from campus. Dewey Swanson, associate professor from the Department of Computer and Information Technology, hosted the camp. Many of the capabilities Alice provides in a drag-and-drop environment are the same concepts used in languages like C# and Java, Swanson said. Students were able to see their animations run immediately and understand the relationship between the instructions they provided the computer and what actually occurs. “What they found in many cases, with quite comical results, is that the computer did what they told it to do, not what they wanted it to do.” The camp coincided with the grand opening of the new Advanced Manufacturing Center for Excellence (AMCE) June 10. AMCE is the new home of the College of Technology at Columbus. (photo: Winners of the Computer Animation Camp contest show off their prizes with camp coordinator Dewey Swanson (right).)