Summer of Code Week 6 Recap: A Summer Worth Remembering

The last class of Summer of Code was as exactly as any last class should be, full of fun, silliness, and remembering what was. I took the opportunity to create a video booth in which I got to capture the students progress, lessons, and overall impressions of their six week journey. I can only hope that they received from this adventure as me. My highlights of last week included a 30something year old walking into our classroom pushing his daughter in a stroller, to which I engaged him asking him if he wanted to know what was going on. He agreed and to his jaw dropping response, was SHOCKED that they are teach code…here…in Salmon.

I felt like a proud papa bringing an opportunity to a community that deserves it. To children who shouldn’t be overlooked merely because of their geography or social economic background. Here at Salmon Public Library we’ve started something. We’ve planted a seed that with proper water may continue on to blossom into something great within a few years of nurturing.

From an unsure beginning to how this journey would unfold, like most in hindsight, are perfectly clear. It was a learning lesson not only in code but in life. Mentors + students gained confidence, pushed boundaries, and in the end, some of them might even have found a future.

If you were to ask me what would have hoped to achieve after six weeks of attempting to set out to expose kids to computer programming. I would have humbly asked to make a difference. To turn on a light of one child. To foster a belief in someone that they are capable of much more then what they limit themselves to be. I can honestly say at the end of this short program I feel I achieved this. Unsure of who it was that received that, am confident one of them, some years from now, will look back and point to this being a “moment”. And if not, I also learned, I’m okay with that too.

So a BIG thank you to my students, to J.A. and Kathryn Foundation, to Khan Academy and their desire to provide access to ALL students with a willingness to learn despite their conditions.