Middle school students pie teacher after having fun with computer science

New Hampton Middle School student Ben Schuchhardt had just been asked a question by the school’s extended learning program advisor Jeff Monteith.
Hit me in the face with a pie or pick out one of the prizes?
“You act like that’s even a question,” Schuchhardt said. “Pie. Trust me, pie.”
So Monteith took one — actually, to be precise, three — for the team, so to speak as he and his students celebrated being the winners of a raffle for their work using Splats during a program called Hour of Code, a nationwide event held each year to raise interest in computer science.
The company that makes Splats — which are codeable floor buttons that light up, make sounds and collect points when they are stomped on — sponsored something called the Unruly Fall Fitness Challenge, and Monteith’s class had the most “virtual stomps” of any school that participated.
So what does 1,287 “stomps” get you? Well, ELP students had a pizza party on Friday, which was cool and everything, but the real prize was having a chance to “pie” their instructor.
“I’m not sure what to think, but they seem more excited about doing that than free pizza,” Monteith said. “Does that mean they like me or do they secretly have something against me?”
 
— For more on this story, see the Jan. 21 Tribune