Conduit Coders Return: A New Season of Innovation and Growth

September 25, 2024 by Ada Jobs

Digital Economy Economic Development Uncategorized

By: Sunnie Dawn Baker

After a stunning first year with the Youth Coding League, a national coding competition for young people, the Conduit Coders are returning for a new season. This team refuses to rest on their past accomplishments and eagerly anticipate competing once again at a high level. Big changes await the team and the program, and we all look forward to following their progress in the coming months.

The team had the summer off because the competitive season follows the fall and spring school semesters. However, Coach Sunnie Baker saw this as an opportunity to further hone the team’s skills and encourage them to experiment more with their projects. It can be difficult for many of the coders to take risks during the competitive season; they want to play it safe, get their projects done, and maximize their scores. However, giving them space to push their boundaries, try new things, and learn through both success and failure, not only makes them better coders, but also influences the way they think about life outside of the lab.

Baker devised her own two-month curriculum for both returning coders and new recruits. The Summer Coding and Entrepreneurship Bootcamp had 13 coders attend, five of which were new to the program. They each spent two hours every Tuesday working on coding projects during their summer vacation, and then continued to work on the projects more at home as well. The first month focused on utilizing some of the more challenging basic ideas for creative means. Some of the projects included composing music and coding a dance party as well as also coding their own version of the classic game Pong. The second month had the coders build their own business ideas and then code both pitches and commercials. At the end of the program, the coders’ family and friends were invited to a showcase at Goodway Coffee Co. where the students had a chance to show off their projects. After four weeks away from coding, the team then reconvened to commence their Fall 2024 regular season, with exciting new developments.

There are several new things to be pleased about this season, not the least of which is the addition of a 7th and 8th grade team. Last season the Conduit Coders only had one team available; it was for 5th and 6th graders and had 11 members. This year, the additional team allows the 6th graders from last year to continue to compete, now that they are in 7th grade, while also continuing to provide the opportunity to the younger coders. This year, 18 students participate between the two teams, 9 of which are returning from last season. All but one new student joins the younger team and four out of the nine participated during the summer session. In order to help with the increased numbers and responsibilities, Baker is joined by Alexandra Aguirre as her Assistant Coach.

In addition to the new team and students, another development is the curriculum that the Youth Coding League (YCL) is using. Instead of utilizing the Google CS First programs, the YCL has built their own lessons. This is particularly significant because the YCL was founded by Codefi, which is an Economic Development Organization in Cape Girardeau, MO, that focuses on entrepreneurship and technology. Now that they have the capacity to build their own curriculum, they are implementing more entrepreneurship education into the lessons as well. The 5th/6th grade team is focusing on “Food” this season. While many of the lessons talk about technologies in agriculture and food production, they also have the students come up with their own food tech business idea that they will build upon through the course of the season. The 7th/8th grade theme is “The Greater Good” and these coders are asked to research non-profits and individuals who are doing good work in their communities and are then tasked with discovering how technology can be a tool to help these organizations in their quest to make the world a little bit better. Now that the YCL is building their own curriculum, this program is now even more valuable, especially for an organization like the Ada Jobs Foundation with our focus on entrepreneurship support in the community. In addition to coaching the Conduit Coders, Baker also leads the entrepreneurship programming provided by Ada Jobs Foundation so these changes to the curriculum fit nicely into her overall plan of work. Click here to learn more about the exciting changes this season in the YCL.

It will be exciting to see the progress that the Conduit Coders make this season. Not only are they learning valuable computer science skills, but they are also problem solving and discovering the power of perseverance, all while growing their confidence as they do hard things. And this season, while they learn coding, they will also learn how to apply these skills to start their own businesses in the future, if that is where their paths might lead. Be sure to follow the Ada Jobs Foundation’s Facebook page to see the progress these young computer scientists make as the season progresses.

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