Learning to code: A portal to exploring space

Meet Ellah, who is learning to code at CodeWizardsHQ. Her community involvement and excitement for coding have led her to be our Student of the Month!

One coding student integrates her coding skills with her interest in astronomy, her compassion for others, and just having fun.

Ten-year old Ellah Sanzalone has a dream. When she grows up, she wants to work for NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration).

She doesn’t want to be an astronaut, she wants to be a programmer.

“I think being a programmer for NASA would be the perfect job for me,” says Ellah who loves astronomy and enjoys creating projects based on the skills she’s learning at CodeWizardsHQ.

“To pursue my goal of working for NASA, I need to learn a variety of programming languages, and CodeWizardsHQ is teaching me what I need to know,” she says.

Ellah’s mom, Lynda Sanzalone, enjoys watching her daughter learn skills that she can apply to a future career, and, she says, Ellah is learning much more than career skills.

“It’s opened up opportunities for her to participate in other programs that may require coding skills,” she says.

For example, Ellah participated in EngineerGirls and a 4-H leadership program, where she built a website to help spread awareness about bullying. “At only ten years old, she’s learning how to be an active community member to help find solutions to social problems,” says Lynda.” She’s able to do these character-building projects because CodeWizardsHQ has given her the fundamental coding skills and confidence to do it.”

“I enjoyed contributing to the No Bullying website because it is a cause I am passionate about,” says Ellah.

One of Ellah’s favorite projects is a cartoon, My Comic, which she created using HTML and CSS.

In another project, she used Python programming to create Rise of Robots, a machine that answers users’ questions.

Ellah says that what she enjoys most about coding with CodeWizardsHQ is creating themes that revolve around her interests. What’s more, she gets to see her classmates’ work and see how they adapted their projects to their interests.

As much as Ellah enjoys coding, it can be challenging at times. “The most troublesome thing about coding is that it’s very easy to make small and inconspicuous mistakes,” she says. “These mistakes can change your program, so it’s crucial to look carefully at your work. Our instructor, Nicholas, is amazing! He is so understanding. Sometimes, when he’s just explained something, we don’t understand it. He’s always very patient and explains it until we do understand,” she says.

Lynda enjoys listening to Ellah interact with her coding cohorts and instructor during their classes. “She’s laughing, learning, exchanging ideas, and asking questions. It’s obvious she enjoys the coding class experience, and her confidence truly shines. Her instructor is incredibly respectful of the students,” she says, adding that if Ellah has a question after class, he answers promptly via email.

In addition to the quality of the teachers, Lynda is impressed with the structured curriculum and progressive levels of learning. “As a parent, I found CodeWizardsHQ’s curriculum easy to follow so that I could understand and track my child’s progress within the program.

“CodeWizardsHQ classes have impacted Ellah’s confidence in such a positive way. She’s able to challenge herself to learn new technical skills while being creative and expressing who she is through her project choices.

“I think it’s essential for institutions of education to keep pace with technology to ensure that kids nationwide are learning fundamental coding skills that are used to inform and shape the society they live in.”

Lynda believes the skills Ellah is learning from her coding classes today will help her to grow into adulthood and become an active citizen who envisions and helps create a better society locally, nationally, and globally.

“I would recommend CodeWizardsHQ to other families interested in teaching their child to code,” says Lynda.

Ellah loves her classes because the students and teachers are kind, the lessons are fun, but they get the work done.

“Coding has helped improve my problem-solving skills, which are essential in life,” says Ellah.

CodeWizardsHQ is giving Ellah the opportunity to learn academic and career building skills while expressing her creativity and making positive contributions in her community.