When Lucas first discovered coding, he was a fourth-grader in elementary school. “It was a unit in science with robotics and Scratch,” he recalls. “That was probably really the first time I was exposed to some actual coding… I guess I just really liked it a lot.”
That early spark didn’t fade. Now 14 and heading into his freshman year of high school, Lucas has completed 13 CodeWizardsHQ courses and is getting ready for the final leg of the program, High School Wizard Level III and the CodeWizardsHQ Internship.
But Lucas isn’t just ahead in coding. He’s also a dedicated athlete, balancing his love of tech with competitive wrestling, soccer, and a deep curiosity for how the mental game of sports aligns with his programming mindset.
A Pathway to Possibility
Lucas’s coding journey took a more structured turn when his dad started looking for a program that could match his son’s growing interest. A simple Google search led them to CodeWizardsHQ, and the program immediately stood out. But it wasn’t just about finding any program. “I liked that there was a pathway. It wasn’t just a couple of scattered classes; it was concepts that built on each other,” his dad shared.
Lucas’s dad, a systems engineer, recognized early on that Lucas had both the aptitude and the interest. “He had taken a lot of interest in school… things like Lego Mindstorms and Scratch coding,” he said. “So I wanted to try to build on it and give him better opportunities.”
And it worked. Over the past few years, Lucas has moved steadily through the CodeWizardsHQ curriculum, gaining not just skills but also confidence and independence.
From Scratch to Full Stack
Before joining CodeWizardsHQ, Lucas was already exploring the world of coding on his own. “Actually, it was a lot of YouTube tutorials,” he said. “I worked with Scratch because that was kind of the more beginner aspect, and it was a little easier to understand. I remember making a lot of Scratch games and other things before my dad came up to me and was like, ‘Hey, look at this program. Do you want to give it a shot?'”
He gave it a shot—and hasn’t looked back since. Now, with 13 CodeWizardsHQ classes under his belt and only a few left before the Internship Program, Lucas has grown into a capable full-stack developer with an eye for practical problem-solving and creative design.
When asked about his favorite projects, Lucas pointed to the full-stack work he’s done using Flask. “Those full-stack projects with Flask… like the meme generator, which is a whole actual application that I made,” he said. He’s also created a replica of the Xbox homepage and several other websites, showcasing his growing confidence and skill with both front-end and back-end development.
One of Lucas’s most practical projects came from a real-world need. The family’s weather display stopped working, so Lucas decided to build his own. “I made a weather app where you can get the weather from any location around the world,” he said. He programmed it to pull live data using a weather API and update every two minutes, building a live, auto-refreshing display in Python.
Originally, Lucas’s goal was to learn how to make games, but over time, his interests evolved. “Now it’s things like Flask and HTML and Python,” he said. “I’ve always found it interesting how you could communicate with the front end and back end and put it all together.”
He’s already thinking about what’s next. “There are definitely some languages I’d still like to learn,” he said. “There are still some major ones out there.”
Wrestling Toward Excellence
Lucas isn’t just pushing boundaries in the coding world. He’s also dominating on the wrestling mat. “This is my ninth year of wrestling,” he said. “I’ve been a state qualifier three times and placed fifth at state this year for the youth program.”
Lucas competes in sports year-round, splitting his time between wrestling and club soccer. But it’s clear wrestling holds a special place for him. “I think I like wrestling a little more,” he admitted.
He’s also tuned into the mental discipline required in both sports and coding. “Patience is definitely a big thing with coding and sports,” he said. “You’re trying to learn something new in a sport, and it could take forever. I’ve had dev tools not work for way too long, given how simple some of them were. You have to have the patience on both ends.”
That mindset has helped him stay focused through years of training, competition, and coding challenges, and it’s something he’s actively studying. “I also like working on the mental part of sports,” he said. “It helps me in real-life situations to stay calm.”
With wrestling season approaching and his CodeWizardsHQ internship on the horizon, Lucas is entering high school already equipped with the persistence, resilience, and talent to take on whatever comes next.
School, Books, and Beyond
Outside of sports and coding, Lucas has a curious mind and a love for learning. “Social studies,” he said without hesitation when asked about his favorite school subject. “I’ve always been a history person,” Lucas said. He’s especially drawn to Medieval history and finds learning about the past particularly interesting.
Lucas enjoys books about mental toughness and philosophy. “One of them was called Ignorance and the other one was called Failure,” said Chris. “It was about science and how both of those attributes are used in scientific discovery.” He’s even been reading about the philosophy of performance and mental strength. “Some of those books really help me,” Lucas said.
Lucas also likes video games, especially nostalgic ones. “There’s this game I’ve played since I was like six or seven. It’s called Plants vs. Zombies,” he said.
Looking Ahead
As Lucas begins high school, he’s already looking toward a future in tech. “I’ve had an interest for the past three or four years,” he said. “So I’m looking to build a career off of it, maybe do something with computers and code in the real world… whether it’s a work environment or developing my own things.”
For now, he’s focused on finishing the CodeWizardsHQ curriculum and starting the internship. “That’s part of the reason I’ve done this all this time—it’s real-world experience at the end of all of it.”
CodeWizardsHQ is proud to have students like Lucas. He is curious, determined, and ready to take on big challenges. With his combination of technical skill, creativity, and perseverance, we can’t wait to see what he does next.
Whether he’s building weather apps, contributing to team projects, or exploring new programming languages, Lucas consistently brings thoughtfulness and energy to everything he does. He represents the best of what young coders can achieve when given the right tools and support. It seems his instructor, Aaron Neme, agrees.
Lucas always goes above and beyond on his coding projects, testing and experimenting with what he can do to make them better. He doesn’t just complete the assignments—he pushes the limits of what’s possible within them. It really speaks to his amazing character and his genuine passion for learning.
Aaron Neme, CodeWizardsHQ Instructor
