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Code2All

By Jack McConnell, age 17 | December 27, 2024

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SERVING A <FUNCTION> Jack McConnell, a junior at Strake Jesuit, wanted to help students prepare to face a dynamic, tech-focused world. He decided that one way he could help is by teaching the highly useful skill of coding to underprivileged youth.

AI and Deep Learning tools promise to remake the economy and reshape critical skills necessary for many jobs. In many countries, such as China, coding and technology related classes are taught to kids at a young age. However, in the U.S., coding is not offered broadly at high schools or middle school (particularly in underserved communities).

Freshman year, I started thinking about the problem of how technology is not broadly taught to kids in the U.S. Inspired by the Jesuit principles of giving back to the community, I decided to create a coding class aimed at middle school kids who did not have access to a coding class, called Code2All.

To make Code2All a reality, I created a curriculum at Strake Jesuit as part of the school’s High Achievers Program (HAP) which takes kids from economically diverse communities and gives them a Jesuit experience for several weeks during the summer. Code2All focuses on the foundations of coding, including: if statements, variables, for loops, while loops, and user interface design – a foundational approach found in virtually every coding application.

To pressure test my class, I went to Howard Stahl, a UCLA professor who taught a computer science class I took. I then pitched the class to Mr. Chad Collier (the architect of Jesuit’s HAP program). Mr. Collier loved the idea and enthusiastically supported me.

I have taught the class for two years and the kids love it. This year, I have made an effort to tie in some concepts from Snap!, a blocks-based programming language for kids and adults developed by Dan Garcia, a professor in the Computer Science department at UC Berkeley.

In Code2All, the kids not only learn basic coding principles, but also learn about technology-related careers, so they begin to think about what is possible. I tell the kids to think about how they can use technology to solve everyday problems and use problem-solving methods to develop critical thinking skills. I think I’ve learned as much as they have while teaching the class, and I look forward to next summer.

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