[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 92 (Tuesday, June 5, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S2989]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO KYLE DENCKER

 Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I am honored to recognize Kyle 
Dencker, the Orange County Teacher of the Year from Timber Creek High 
School in Orlando, FL.
  Kyle thanked colleagues, mentors, and administrators for receiving 
this award and challenged educators to make computer science available 
at all of the county's public schools. He believes every student should 
have the opportunity to take computer science.
  Colleagues say Kyle recruits students who traditionally avoided 
computer science, sometimes just by walking around campus, introducing 
himself and explaining why they might want to learn to code. He has 
earned national awards for his efforts to recruit young women into 
computer science and help them succeed in those classes.
  Many students have found success in his classroom, in State 
competitions, and in securing internships. He had 186 students take 
advanced placement computer science principles last school year, and 
nearly 77 percent passed the AP exam, exceeding the national rate.
  Kyle has been a computer science teacher at Timber Creek High School 
for 9 years. In that time, enrollment in the school's computer science 
classes has grown from about 30 students to nearly 400, making it the 
largest such program in the Orange school district. He has spent nearly 
a decade getting students to see past the stereotypes regarding 
computer classes.
  I thank Kyle for his dedication to expanding computer science to 
students that were previously uninterested in this important subject. I 
express my sincere gratitude to Kyle and look forward to hearing of his 
continued success in the years to come.

                          ____________________