Flathead Valley students on Thursday participated in a worldwide Hour of Code in celebration of Computer Science Education Week.

The nonprofit Code.org sponsors the Hour of Code campaign to get millions of students to learn and practice coding from Dec. 8-14.

According to hourofcode.com, the initiative “is a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anybody can learn the basics.”

Flathead Valley schools participating included Columbia Falls High School, Edgerton Elementary, Elrod Elementary, Fair-Mont-Egan School, Glacier High School, Smith Valley School, St. Matthew’s Catholic School, West Valley School and Whitefish schools.

Muldown Elementary in Whitefish had a particularly big reason to celebrate this year’s Hour of Code because the school won $10,000 from Code.org to buy technology that will help teach critical skills to students, according to Whitefish School District technology teacher Gary Carmichael.

The award was a surprise to students until Wednesday morning when Carmichael and Muldown Elementary Principal Linda Whitwright made the announcement with an oversized check.

“I was very excited last year to be selected to teach Muldown students technology and introduce them to coding,” Carmichael said. “Students have been excited to take on this challenging activity.”

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.