Today we’d like to introduce you to Wanjun Zhang, Neeraj Tandon, and Amanda Shih.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Wanjun, Neeraj, and Amanda. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Wanjun Zhang: As part of the Houston Public Library Community engagement team, I helped bring technology and library experiences to those in Houston who can’t make it to the library. Our patrons ranged from age 5 to 99, and I experienced first-hand deep divide in digital literacy. It was eye-opening that something I had taken for granted growing up – the ability to a computer is such is such a needed class for senior citizens and middle school students alike. There is a serious gap for technology education in Houston.
Neeraj Tandon: I started teaching when I was in college. I taught middle school kids at a robotics camp during the summers, and it was a lot of fun. I initially agreed to the job because I’d get to play and create projects with robots, but I came away deeply influenced by how rewarding it was to teach and empower the kids to create on their own.
Several years down the line, when I came to Houston, I was given an opportunity to teach a coding class at the public library. From that opportunity, Code Park was born. I’ve been fortunate to teach classes with Amanda, Wanjun and our volunteers since that first class at the library.
Amanda Shih: I began coding as a way to express myself. Choosing colors and images for my blog using code became a creative outlet. I enjoyed learning to code. I could see the results of the problem-solving process as the screen changed with my code. When I began a career as a programmer, I learned from a lot of passionate programmers.
Together, we organized free workshops for women new to programming to build a webpage in one day. Seeing mentors and attendees alike inspire each other really touched me. I wanted to see this community of learning and teaching reach more learners, to see a shift in our relationship with technology; I wanted more of us to see behind the screens, to see that we can create so much with it, not just use it.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Neeraj Tandon: It hasn’t always been easy. Probably the hardest thing is when we carefully plan a class and no one shows up, or we only have a few students show up. It can be discouraging when students can’t come.
Wanjun Zhang: We strive to inspire students with an intrinsic motivation that drives them to learn to programme beyond a surface level. Teaching about coding and technology is actually really teaching about the problem-solving process, an arduous task for children and adults alike. It’s challenging to strike a balance between guiding students to complete a project and to have them solve really hard problems on his or her own.
Amanda Shih: There were many struggles. Trying to make an impact and reach students while finding a way to fund ourselves is very challenging. A struggle personal to me was changing how I viewed myself as I left programming full time. Without realizing it, I’d slipped into measuring my self-worth by how many technical problems I could solve day to day.
I’d gotten used to being able to control the pace of the results of my work in a sense. I struggled to peel myself away from that, to grow my skills outside of programming, and to adapt to a different pace of outcomes.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Code Park Houston – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Wanjun Zhang: Code Park specifically focuses on students from the underserved area and expose kids of all ages to the world of computer science. Our team’s unique insight and background in data science, makerspace education, web development, entrepreneurship allow us to build our vision of a pipeline of diverse technology workers in Houston.
I’m also an immigrant, I didn’t move to the United States until I was eleven. When I think back to when I started learning English and how difficult it was, and I use the feeling of understanding something to help me come up with creative ways of teaching students about coding.
My proudest moment is whenever I educate other educators to deliver the same kind of workshop that we do. Their encouragement and willingness to learn inspires to me to innovate and push for education technology.
Neeraj Tandon: We teach kids to code in communities where their high-quality coding classes aren’t being offered. We like to make sure we are always updating our materials and curricula to bring the best programs to the students. We use open source technology and try to provide a bridge for the students to careers in technology.
My proudest moments are when students demonstrate fearlessness and resourcefulness to create something completely new and challenging. When they’re proud of what they’re doing, I’m proud.
Amanda Shih: Code Park is a nonprofit that shares technology learning experiences with underserved students in Houston. We specialize in guiding students to take ownership of their learning process and see that they can be creators of using technology. I’m very proud of how we blend technology with a student’s other interests – like visual art, music, and games – to add fuel to their motivation to learn.
There are so many proud moments. Our students are so awesome. Whenever our students share what they’ve learned with us, classmates, parents, and others, I feel proud. Seeing their perseverance, resilience, and confidence throughout our classes especially inspires me.
An early proud moment was when one student shared that she feels coding is hard, but trying until she’s able to code the result she wants is rewarding. I also feel really proud when I see students teaching each other; not only are they embracing collaboration, they are solidifying their own knowledge while helping each other learn more.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Code Park Team: Our big change is business related. We hope to scale our impact sustainably by getting more involvement from both the technology and education community.
We hope to bridge the gap between educators and computer scientists so we could all work together to better teach about technology.
Contact Info:
- Website: codeparkhouston.org
- Phone: (832)786-9178
- Email: hello@codeparkhouston.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/codeparkhouston/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/codeparkhouston/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/codeparkhouston
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