CRASH COURSES for WANNABE CODERS
ABQ startup’s camps teach students computer principles in underserved communities
Dozens of high school students are attending crash courses in computer coding for free this summer in Albuquerque, Shiprock and Española.
Albuquerque startup Cultivating Coders launched three separate programs on Monday for 57 students from high schools in various underserved communities, offering participants intensive training in web and software development. That includes 21 students from high schools in Albuquerque, 24 Navajo youth in Shiprock, and 12 students at Northern New Mexico College in Española.
The boot camps mark the start of a new, long-term project by Cultivating Coders, which launched in December 2015 to offer eight-week training courses in computer programming for adults in underserved rural and urban areas. The company continues to grow its fee-based program here and elsewhere, with new boot camps planned for California and Washington.
But last year, the startup formed a nonprofit to offer underserved high school youth free training that can guide them into high-paying career opportunities, said Cultivating Coders founder and President Charles Ashley III. The project emerged from a boot camp for students in Shiprock last year.
“We found high school kids really excel at this,” Ashely said. “They pick it up fast, so a light bulb went off for us. We decided a nonprofit program would be particularly impactful for high school students.”
The company raised money from different companies and organizations for the camps, including a $300,000 donation from Microsoft YouthSpark. Assistance also came from the LANL and Albuquerque Community Foundations, Teach for America, the Air Force Research Laboratory, AT&T and Albuquerque Public Schools’ Career Enrichment Center.
The LANL Foundation aims to build a summer STEM “ecosystem” in partnership with Northern N.M. College, which is offering a STEM program for high school students alongside the coding camp this summer. “We’re leveraging both programs together,” said LANL K-12 program director Gwen Perez Warniment.
As students learn to code, they’ll work on community projects to build public websites, which they’ll present at a “demo day” when classes conclude. Camp graduates will then build after-school coding clubs in their own schools. And all summer graduates will receive free laptops.
The skills learned in the camps may be as important as reading, writing and math in today’s world, said Brandon Trebitowski, founder and CEO of the Rio Rancho-based coding company Pixegon, who recently joined Cultivating Coders as chief technology officer.
For Albuquerque boot camp participant Ambrosia Wilson, 15, the class is a step toward her goal of becoming a computer programmer. “It’s a great start,” she said.
Fifteen-year-old Mekhi Majedi, another Albuquerque participant, said coding is for everybody.
“It doesn’t turn a blind eye to race or color,” Majedi said. “Anyone can do it. You just have to find the will.”