We are so grateful to all the incredible mentors that teach our students their coding skills during our camps. They all volunteer their own personal time to ensure that our students get the high quality coding knowledge that they deserve.

This summer we're highlighting one of our mentors, Shaquille Taylor, who is extremely dedicated to our students. In fact, she has volunteered over 30 hours of her time to teach the students in our IdeaSpark Coding Camps! Shaquille is a Software Engineer with Accenture. Check out our interview with her below:

Bold Idea (BI): Hi Shaquille! Let's get started with a fun fact. One fun fact about yourself is...?

Shaquille: My birthday is on Valentine's Day.

BI: How did you get involved with Bold Idea?

Shaquille: A colleague posted about it on LinkedIn and I love to code so I decided to share my time volunteering.

BI: What have you learned or gained from being a mentor?

Shaquille: I've learned valuable teaching/mentoring skills, like how to explain something to students of different ages in a way they understand and helping them work through problems on their own vs just giving the answer.

BI: What is your most memorable mentoring moment so far?

Shaquille: Watching the students open up. The students were hesitant to talk at first until I got them to engage more and ask more questions. I mentor two different groups of students (elementary age and middle/high school) and watching them gain understanding of the code and get excited about their projects is amazing.

BI: How did you become interested in technology and programming?

Shaquille: 4 years ago I was introduced to technology as a career option through a veterans non profit organization. Since then I've developed a passion for coding and also learning new tech skills.

BI: What did you study in college?

Shaquille: I'm enrolled in the Information Technology Administration program right now (Junior year) for my bachelor's degree with a concentration that combines Application Development and Cyber Security.

BI: What are some of your favorite hobbies or pastimes?

Shaquille: Building and designing websites, spending time with my daughter, binge watching tv shows.

BI: Is there anything you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?

Shaquille: Start early and practice often!

BI: What is it about Bold Idea's mission that really connects with you?

Shaquille: Introducing students to Computer Science and coding, regardless of income because I did not have that growing up and I wish I did. The students being introduced to these skills early sets them up to have careers in Computer Science. This allows students in underrepresented groups to have access to information technology in a way they probably would not have access. My niece is in one of the camps I mentor and she loves it.

Join us in thanking Shaquille for all that she does for Bold Idea!