Heritage Students Step Into Virtual Reality with Oculus Rift Demo

Trey Caliva, director of technology at Director’s Choice, visited Heritage Middle School Friday (Feb. 25) to show students how coding can be used with virtual reality systems.

HMS-Oculus-Rift-Demo-22Heritage Middle School students stepped in the world of virtual reality Friday (Feb. 25) with the Oculus Rift system when Trey Caliva, director of technology at Director’s Choice visited students after school to show them how coding can be used with virtual reality systems.

As the students put on the Oculus Rift headset, they “oohed” and “ahhed” as they traveled to Hawaii, Disneyworld, San Antonio, Paris, London, New York and more all while staying in the band hall at Heritage Middle School.

The demo was a part of the school’s Coding Club, in which students along with sixth grade math teacher Kate Biel teaches themselves how to code after school.

Caliva, who is self-taught in the art and science of computer programming, showed the students code written specifically for the Oculus Rift and demonstrated how the code affects the virtual reality system.

“What I thought was very relatable was the fact that Trey had no prior experience writing code or programming until he started at Director’s Choice,” said Biel. “He has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and has taught himself all of the facets of coding. This is exactly what we — myself included — are doing in Coding Club every Friday.”

Any student at Heritage is welcome to join the Coding Club and learn more about coding and computer programming.

Director’s Choice, based in Lubbock, is a student travel management company that provides a fun, educational and safe travel experience for student groups.