On Wednesday night Microsoft in Mountain View hosted the first ever meeting of the Silicon Valley Coder Dojo. It was a tremendous success – there were 25 students and 8 mentors helping students with fun programming projects.
The meeting was only loosely structured – there was a wide range of student age and experience, so not everyone worked on the same project. Breakout Mentors Founder Brian Skinner was the lead mentor for the session and presented a several different Scratch games for the students to choose from. Based on their previous experience and interest, they could choose which one they wanted to make, or even pursue their own project! The result was great student engagement. With 8 mentors walking around the room ready to assist, no question was left unanswered.
There are big plans for the future, so be sure to join while it’s just getting started. Meetings will vary with both the type of programming and lead mentors. There is no better way for kids to get regular exposure to programming – surrounded by other kids with similar interested and excellent mentors. Be sure to join the Silicon Valley Coder Dojo mailing list so that you will be notified when tickets are available for future meetings. The next one is on October 17th, hope to see you there!
Brian Skinner, founder of Breakout Mentors and mentor for the Silicon Valley Coder Dojo, was on an Ireland radio program about the first session. Listen to hit here.