Obama surprises hundreds of coding students with phone call

Former President Obama surprised more than 1,000 students, educators and advocates on Tuesday when he dialed into a conference call organized by the Computer Science for All Consortium. 

More than 800 schools were on the line when the former president chimed in to offer some words of encouragement, according to the group.

“As I’ve always said, this country is at its best when we lift each other up and make sure that we’re extending opportunity to everybody,” Obama said, according to CNBC.

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“I strongly believe every child has to have the opportunity to learn this critical skill,” he added. “We are inundated with technology and I don’t want our young people to just be consumers, I want them to be producers of this technology and to understand it, to feel like they’re controlling it, as opposed to it controlling them.”

Obama launched the CS for All initiative, which seeks to promote computer science education in schools, in January 2016. The consortium was established eight months later. 

In a tweet posted after Tuesday’s call, Obama reaffirmed his support for the initiative. 

“Coding is important – and fun. @CSforAll, thanks for your work to make sure every kid can compete in a high-tech, global economy,” he wrote.

Coding is important – and fun. @CSforAll, thanks for your work to make sure every kid can compete in a high-tech, global economy. https://t.co/QDZqcoEQiM

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) September 18, 2017