Several years ago, Julie Wray and Carrie Trudden, Howard County Public School System’s (HCPSS) then- and current coordinators of Instructional Technology, began receiving emails from a group called Howard County Hour of Code (HocoHOC). At the time, Wray and Trudden were unfamiliar with the group and skeptical about its offer to partner with the district on the Hour of Code (now known as Hour of AI), an annual, worldwide event during which students engage in activities to help broaden their understanding of computer science. The district had historically used and had success with resources available on Code.org for that event.
But the HocoHOC emails kept coming. In spring 2025, Wray and Trudden again received an email from the group and this time followed up on it. They set up a meeting with HCPSS students and HocoHOC Co-Directors Daniel Gao (River Hill High School) and Ankit Mohanty (Marriotts Ridge High School) to discuss the possibility of collaborating. During that meeting, Gao and Mohanty explained that HocoHOC was a student-run group that had developed a platform, https://hocohoc.org/, featuring an assortment of student-generated articles on coding, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI), and other topics related to computer science. The platform enabled students to earn points for themselves and their schools by reading articles and entering into a raffle to win assorted prizes.
Wray and Trudden were impressed and agreed to work with HocoHOC to ensure that its website would be ready for HCPSS’ Hour of Code week in December 2025. This included reviewing and revising the site so that it would meet HCPSS’ accessibility and data privacy guidelines. It also included building out the site to align with HCPSS’ Computer Science curriculum and generating articles, games, and daily challenges for students at all grade levels.
“It was really important to us to have resources available for elementary and middle school students as well as high school students,” Gao notes. “The jobs of the future are all going to involve coding, computer science, or AI at some level, so the earlier students can start being introduced to those topics, the better.”
The collaborative efforts between Wray, Trudden, and HocoHOC paid off. Under Gao and Mohanty’s leadership, the 2025 initiative helped bring computer science and AI to students across the county. The platform reached 2,500+ registered users, over 28,000 article views, and approximately 862 hours of student engagement. Participating students earned a host of prizes, and the 2025 winning school, Dunloggin Middle School, received a $300 donation.
“We received a lot of really positive feedback from both students and HCPSS staff on how everything came together,” Gao says. “We kept hearing from teachers that students wanted to do more and learn more about coding after reading our articles. That was really gratifying.”
“One moment that really stuck with me was when we were handing out prizes, and a teacher told us how thrilled his students were,” Mohanty adds. “Seeing that excitement made the work we put in feel worthwhile.”
Like Gao and Mohanty, Trudden felt the HCPSS/HocoHOC partnership on Hour of AI was a success.
“Schools were really enthusiastic about their experience, and the kids loved being able to win prizes for learning new things,” she says.
On the heels of last year’s success, HCPSS and HocoHOC again are working together on this year’s Hour of AI. Ankit Mohanty is returning as HocoHOC director for a second year. With Gao having graduated, River Hill High School student Nicholas Chen will serve as co-director to help Mohanty lead the effort.
“Our student writers are already busy producing a bunch of new articles, and we’re developing games and daily challenges that will enable students to earn extra points during the Hour of AI in December. And we’re planning to offer great prizes again and will donate $300 to the winning school and $50 to the second- and third-place schools,” explains Mohanty. “We’re hopeful that the new material and prizes will encourage even more students and schools to participate this year.”
“Ultimately, we want to help all students see that while subjects like AI and computer science can seem intimidating, they are accessible—and fun!—if you break them down,” adds Mohanty.
Students in all grades may participate in HCPSS’ 2026 Hour of AI activities Dec. 8-15. Additional information will be shared with students and families by participating schools.
