Each student at CodeWizardsHQ has an interesting story to tell. These students not only excel at coding, but they participate in an array of school and community activities. Yahya, a CodeWizardsHQ middle schooler, is an honors student and an athlete. He also gives back to his community in a very unique way.
Yahya’s Coding Journey
Yahya developed an interest in coding and computers early. He remembers being introduced to Scratch in school.
“I was seven or eight years old, and I saw a lot of people going on Scratch, and so I tried it myself, and the block coding was pretty easy. I made some games and went to Python.”
After briefly working with Scratch, he was ready to move beyond that language and found some online video resources. He learned about functions and did some projects in Python.
Yahya’s mom recognized her son’s interest in computers and started searching for options to expand his knowledge. It was during the pandemic, and online learning opportunities were key.
“He showed an interest in computers since he was in second grade. When a computer is in his hands, it feels like he’s a grownup solving problems. He was an advanced student in math, and we wanted to do something related to the computer. Coding was obviously the first thing that came to mind. We all know that coding is a basic foundation for this generation for the future.”
She did extensive research and found CodeWizardsHQ. She chose CodeWizards based on reviews and its structured curriculum.
“The thing that I like about CodeWizards is the structured curriculum. Prerequisite courses open other courses. You finish elementary school, and you go to middle school. When you finish middle school, you go to high school. It’s not just one course and that’s it.”
Eleven-year-old Yahya is now in an impressive twelfth class at CodeWizardsHQ. He has progressed to the second course in Middle School Wizard Level II, Interactive JavaScript, a course where students learn to add JavaScript to their web pages to create dynamic applications that engage users. In addition to JavaScript during his tenure at CodeWizardsHQ, Yahya has learned Scratch, HTML/CSS, and Python. He has a definite preference.
“My favorite language is Python because it’s easy to code with and you can make a lot of things with it.”
Favorite Projects
He has enjoyed creating a long list of projects at CodeWizardsHQ, but cites a few in particular. He remembers a Scratch game that he created with a car that avoided obstacles. He also liked coding a chatbot and a calculator using Python.
Yahya is interested in learning more advanced Python skills and making games with Python. He is looking forward to CodeWizard’s Internship Program. CodeWizardsHQ’s courses culminate with a unique internship opportunity for its graduates. Yahya is excited about participating and creating projects that can be used in the real world.
Yahya has used his coding foundation to build an extensive collection of projects on his own. He has made a series of calculators. One performs complex operations like absolute values and exponents and calculates areas and perimeters. Another makes metric conversions. Yet another project is an interactive math problem generator that gives correct answers when a user requests them.
School and Hobbies
Yahya loves math and is in a gifted program at school. He specifically enjoys working with algebraic equations. He also prefers science and chemistry in particular. He likes learning about the elements and how they combine. Yahya is learning robotics and participates in a robotics club at school. His team is currently working on a robot that can grab items.
When not engaged with coding or school, Yahya participates in a variety of challenging sports. You might find him at the pool. He is a year-round swimmer whose favorite stroke is backstroke. He also enjoys biking. He belongs to a biking club and rides as much as fourteen miles each Saturday.
Yahya’s interest in bikes goes far beyond riding. He participates in a local non-profit program where students come together to learn about the mechanics of bicycles. Each participant learns how to build a bike. As part of the program, they build a bike for a community member in need, then they build a bike for themselves. Yahya built his personal bike for his dad.
Yahya sees similarities between coding and working with bikes.
“There’s so much to learn about. You have to assemble different pieces together to find a solution to fix a problem.”
With a firm foundation in so many different skills and an ambitious drive to build projects of all kinds that improve the lives of others, there is no doubt that Yahya will be a future success. CodeWizardsHQ is fortunate to have students like Yahya as part of our coding family. His dedication to coding and to helping others has made him a welcome asset in our community.
