7400 Lines of Code
A few weeks ago the East Atlanta Kids Club (EAKC) participants completed a code.org Computer Science Fundamentals course. It was great to see some kids gravitate to coding, especially since most had not been exposed to coding before Nerd Ninjaz. They learned computer science fundamental concepts such as algorithms, loops, events, etc. which gave the participants a platform to launch from. There will be designers and programmers out of this group because they now know they can code and they will only get better in the future
These 28 young men and ladies wrote a combined 7,400 lines of code in the 7 weeks we have been working together! I am so very proud of them as they persisted, collaborated, laughed, and through challenges. Hundreds of fist bumps, pats on the back, not so gentle nudges to complete a task, reminders that they can do it, check-ins, and smiles in the face of frustration made this journey worth it.
This accomplishment could not be done without the help of Ms. Subria Bello, a 10th grade IB student at Maynard Jackson High School, who served as a Junior Sensei. Subria often walked to the Brownwood Recreation Center after school and dove right in. She met challenges with a style and empathy that really had an impact on the EAKC youth.
I reminded them recently what I said when we started in January “Learning to code is not hard, but I never said it would be easy.”. They laughed with many reminding me of the walls we went around, broke through, or climbed over. They all now say “I can code”!
Let’s keep the momentum going to have 10,000 of Atlanta’s young people say “I Can Code!”. Let me know what your program is doing or how we can help. Together we can prepare the future for the future.
William Teasley
Nerd Ninja Sensei
HGEI