High School Volunteers Lead Coders Club

 

Once a month, Kramden hosts a Coders Club for middle school students who are interested in learning about programming. In past club meetings, students have learned how to use programming languages to make music, code robots, and create art. Kramden’s Program Manager, Lile Stephens, typically leads the meetings but this month featured guest instructors. This May, student volunteers from Green Hope High School’s own Coders Club came to Kramden to guide participants through a coding project.

Using Python, the Green Hope volunteers taught students how to create their own text-based adventure games. Students entered prompts to move their story forward, creating “choose your own adventure” games that others could play. Coders Club participants showed off their creativity in building their stories. Some of the adventures included escaping from an abandoned theme park, exploring a haunted mansion, and catching a magical pizza slice!

Vaishy Kumar (class of ’23) founded the Coders Club at Green Hope High School in 2021. Vaishy wanted to build a community of students who were interested in coding. As club president, Vaishy says she has arranged “biweekly meetings, hosted speakers from NC State, facilitated group projects, workshops, and mentoring, and worked on school-wide Game Jams.”

The Coders Club students at Green Hope work on a variety of projects throughout the year. Students can take on individual and group coding projects. These projects include competitions, hackathons, and game jams. Upperclassmen mentor fellow club members, helping them to improve their skills with different coding languages.

Vaishy heard about Kramden through a refurbishing community service opportunity she saw online. Vaishy contacted Kramden to find out if there was a way for the club to teach a programming workshop. Two other club members, Brendan and Tyler Swanson, have volunteered with Kramden for years during Wednesday Worknights. Teaching a session of Coders Club was a perfect fit for the group. After the class, Vaishy said it was a great opportunity for the high schoolers “to give back to the community and share their passion with those younger than them.”

Thank you to the members of Green Hope High School Coders Club for sharing your time and experience with participants in Kramden’s own Coders Club!