Walkertown High School Student Featured on Fox 8 Along with Teacher

On March 14, Larry Crotts, who goes to Walkertown High School, appeared on Fox 8’s “Class Act” weekly series, which recognizes students.

The episode with Crotts was called “Class Act: Mr. Computer Science.”

Along with the video story that included an interview with teacher Nadine M. Burgess, Fox 8 posted this text, which excerpts some of the points made in the video:

A junior at Walkertown High School is hoping his passion will one day turn into a career.

Larry Crotts became interested in computer science when he was just 2 years old.

"I've been doing computer oriented stuff for 14 years now and I've always loved computers. I've always had a knowledge and want to educate myself more in that field," Crotts said.

He's already learned to use "machine code" to manipulate and build computer programs.

"It's not much different than learning a foreign language or something because you still have to apply knowledge to learn new topics," he said. "I wouldn't say it's much harder, I'd say it's easier."

Crotts is the only student at Walkertown High to receive certifications in at least four Microsoft Office technology programs.

On top of that, the 16-year-old has a 4.2 GPA.

Crotts wants to become a game developer or software engineer. As for college, he says he's considering a state school that focuses on computer science.

Burgess had this to say:

“Career Technical Education gives teachers such as myself a chance to tell the stories of our students accomplishments and leadership skills and raise awareness of the crucial role that CTE has in readying our students for economic success and workforce competitiveness. 

“As a CTE Teacher in Business, I am proud to say that to-date 264 Walkertown High School students have received their certification in one or more of the following courses: Microsoft Word 2010, Microsoft PowerPoint 2010, Microsoft Word 2013, PowerPoint 2013, Word Expert 2013.”

“I’m sending a shout-out to all of my current and former students, ‘Congratulations on your achievements. Job well done.’”

Here’s what Crotts had to say:

“I personally believe that the Microsoft Office Specialist program (now known as Microsoft Imagine Academy) is definitely an excellent program to offer students in high schools. As technology quickly advances in society, so does the program. The program also offers the option to become certified in the specific program of study. These certifications are placed on our high school transcripts.I just believe that everyone should have at least a basic or beginner course. Almost every business or organization today uses Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and most likely the other Microsoft Office programs; so it helps for the people to have basic foundations of the programs.

“Regarding my teacher, Mrs. Burgess, I personally feel that Mrs. Burgess is an extremely underrated teacher because of all of the hard work that she puts in for her students. She deserves a much higher and better regulation than what she already has. Her courses are often portrayed as very difficult, but in reality, they are extremely easy in comparison to other courses offered at Walkertown High, or any school for that matter. She is an amazing teacher and really puts in time and care for her students, even the ones who do not appreciate what she does.” 

To see the Fox 8 video story, go to Fox 8