Gwinnett County

R&B superstar Ciara surprises class using her songs to learn coding

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Students at one Gwinnett County school got a big surprise Monday when R&B superstar Ciara stopped into their computer science class.

The students at Paul Duke Stem High School have been using their computer coding skills to remix some of Ciara’s songs.

“It’s absolutely incredible and amazing to know that you guys are learning to code and do remixes to my songs,” Ciara told the students.

The class has been taking part in the Earsketch competition sponsored by Amazon’s future engineer program.

Earsketch is a platform for teaching computer science using music remixing, developed at Georgia Tech.

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“If we combine a medium that students are used to, like music, and we make it really cool by including authentic clips from authentic artists like Ciara, then we can use that as a way to get them excited about doing the computer science,” said Georgia Tech Senior Research Engineer Roxanne Moore.

Ciara sat in with the students in the class to see them work on one of her songs.

“It’s pretty cool. She has a lot of good beats, so, like, it’s good to make it,” student Victoria Lantcheva said.

The goal is to get more students interested in computer coding and maybe even a career in music.

“If you believe in yourself, anything is possible," Ciara told the class.

The students will submit their remixes for judging and can win Amazon gift cards.

The grand prize winners will get a trip to Seattle to present their work to Amazon executives.