Meet Bold Idea Mentor Kendra

Meet Kendra Andersen, a consultant at Pariveda Solutions and Bold Idea Mentor. Learn about how her teachers introduced her to science in High School and what she is doing to bring that same impact to Bold Idea students.

What have you learned or gained from being a Bold Idea Mentor?

I've really enjoyed being able to work with younger kids again! I enjoy being able to look at computer science through the fresh eyes of someone new to it again and trying to learn how to help them understand it better.

What is you most memorable mentoring moment?

I've enjoyed being able to help a team of students figure out how to work together! Sometimes different students have varying strengths or skill levels and figuring out how to combine them for a project they all enjoy is a fun puzzle to solve!

How did you become interested in technology and programming?

I had a high school teacher to got me interested in engineering as a field. She was a great mentor to me and encouraged me to try challenging projects! Over the course of college, I was introduced to programming through a number of my classes and several design projects.

What did you study in college?

Electrical Engineering

What are some of your favorite hobbies or past times?

I enjoy swimming, biking, and doing art in my free time!

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

I wish I could tell myself to try out coding at a earlier point in my life. It always seemed like a boy's thing in middle school, but that does not have to be the case!

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

I really enjoy getting to introduce students to computer science concepts in a more creative manner than what they might experience in a classroom setting!

Meet Bold Idea Mentor Juan

Meet Juan Perez, a system analyst, custom shoe artist, and Bold Idea mentor. Learn how playing video games at a young age led to an interest in programming and a career at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

What is something many people don’t know about you?
I help out with an annual event called Young Achievers Forum that takes place at the University of Texas at El Paso and at New Mexico State University. This event gives 1,000 middle school students a college day experience to learn about post-secondary education. I also have a side business as a Shoe Custom Artist. I specialize in customizing footwear such as sneakers, baseball cleats, and football cleats.

How did you become interested in technology and programming?
At first I got into technology because of video games. I played video games so much that I started to become interested in learning how to make video games. I found that learning how to program was the path I needed to take to learn how to develop video games.

What did you study in college?
I studied Computer Science with a concentration in Software Engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

What are you working on now?
I’m a System Analyst at the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank and in my spare time I am a Shoe Custom Artist.

What have you gained from being a mentor?
I get great satisfaction from helping young students develop a new skill that will help them think about their future plans, their education, and career development.

What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
When I saw kids come into the classroom very excited because they wanted to work on the next lesson and they couldn’t wait to continue their programming project. This showed me that Bold Idea gives students an opportunity to enjoy learning new things and make a difference in their education.

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
I should’ve joined coding summer camps and always practiced coding as much as possible.

What is it about Bold Idea’s mission that really connects with you?
Our Mission - Bold Idea develops and empowers young minds to execute bold ideas as a team through the power of technology. Empowering the minds of young kids. I want kids to have confidence to learn new things. I’m all for educating the kids because they are the future, and I would like to help be a part of guiding them to the right path towards success and accomplishing great things.

Meet Bold Idea Mentor Ashay

Meet Ashay Vakharia - a consultant at Pariveda Solutions and a Bold Idea mentor. Learn how watching his older brother sparked an early interest and eventual career in technology.

What is something many people don’t know about you? English is not my first language! I was born in India and moved to the United States when I was young. I learned English mainly through school and listening to others speak.

How did you become interested in technology and programming?
I have a brother who is four years older than me. When he was in high school, he took an introduction to computer programming class and came home one day to show my parents some of the work he was doing. It was a simple program that took some input and returned a pop up as an output. But I was instantly hooked and amazed that he was able to create that. It seemed like magic! After that, I became more interested in computers in general and knew that I wanted to take the same course when I entered high school. My brother continued to be an influence on me. He had an interest in technology and I always copied him. He ended up following another career, but technology ended up sticking with me.

What did you study in college?
When I entered college, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do. I had an interest in banking and programming. My first year was spent towards getting into the business school along with some intro classes for the Computer Science degree. It wasn’t until my second year that I decided to pursue a degree in both. I ended up graduating with a BS in both Finance and Computer Science. During my later years, I grew more attached to programming and knew I wanted to pursue a career in that field. The students I met and the courses I took made me realize that our future of computer programming is unlimited. I leveraged my financial background to land my first job at a bank as a developer for their internal applications.

What are you working on now?
My current work involves data analysis, reporting, and cloud architecture. Essentially, I am working with Microsoft products to better analyze lots of data for my current client so the client can create reports easier. These reports will be utilized to spot deficiencies in their business and improve their performance.

What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
I’ve always enjoyed teaching others! Being able to guide others in learning new things brings me satisfaction. When I was younger, I used to volunteer at the local public library. There was a summer program that encouraged young children to read. I joined the volunteer program to organize prizes and events for the kids to participate. Bold Idea allows me to work with kids again. I want to say my most memorable moment was near the end of the semester when the kids asked to skip the typical ice breaker exercises at the beginning of a session and go straight into programming. They were so eager to continue working on their projects!

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
Practice, practice, practice! Studying computer programming is like studying medicine. It’s always changing and evolving. There will always be new things to learn so it is important to continue reading and always keep practicing. Don’t be afraid to fail! That’s what we have debuggers for 😊

What is it about Bold Idea's mission that really connects with you?
The goal of introducing students to technology and programming at a young age really resonates with me. That’s exactly how I got into the world. As I look at our society now, it’s a no brainer that technology will continue to increase in pervading our lives. It’s important to provide students with an exposure to this field early because it will lead to great success for them if they enjoy it. I strongly believe that education is the best way for a person to grow and mature and this is one of the better ways for me to contribute to that goal.

Meet Bold Idea Mentor Molly

Meet Molly Ilijevich - an Information Security Analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Master’s student, and a Bold Idea Mentor. Learn how Molly is helping 5th grade students build a growth mindset.

What have you gained from being a mentor?
I have gained patience in the teaching process. Since I do have knowledge in how to code, it is hard for me to keep my mouth shut and let my mentee experiment with things that are very obviously wrong to me. Sitting back, letting the kids experiment and mess up is how they retain the information; explaining to them why it was wrong before they even try is definitely not as memorable. It is how I learn, so I’m not sure why it took me awhile to figure it out. Also, the kids are so unperturbed about making mistakes, we laugh about it and move on. It is super refreshing to see.

What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
Anytime something clicked for my mentee was obviously great. However, the presentations at the end will always be specifically memorable. The week before my mentee was a hard pass on presenting in front of her peers but the day of came and she decided to go for it. She was even excited to do it and worried that we would run out of time before she could go. The change in attitude happened because she told her mom about the presentation. Her mom suggested she get up and present since she had worked hard on getting the website to where it was. Just seeing how a parent’s interest and advice changed my mentee’s perception of something was really incredible.

What is something many people don’t know about you?
I’m a pretty open book and love to talk, so it is hard to point to something that a lot of people don’t know about me. One thing might be that I am focusing on learning to draw this year. I don’t really have a traditional creative outlet, so I am working on establishing one.

How did you become interested in technology?
I became interested in technology in high school. I was a kid when home computers and the Internet became prevalent but using them didn’t really instill a strong interest in me, outside of playing games on them. Programming robots in a computer science elective is what really sparked my interest. I still remember how excited I was when the robot I programmed won a dance competition held in the class. Since then, I have had a pretty healthy enthusiasm for all things technology.

What did you study in college?
I started out in Computer Science and ended up eventually switching to Information Systems. At the time, switching majors seemed to be the only decision. I hadn’t really developed a growth mindset in High School since I was “naturally smart.” When things got hard with programming, I figured I just wasn’t smart enough to learn the subject. After I switched over, I took some coding electives and realized I was wrong.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working as an Information Security Analyst. The role consists of more than analysis, with system administration and coding involved as well. At work, I am also involved in a group that is using Machine Learning to solve startup issues in applications. Outside of work, I am getting my Master’s in IT with a focus on Programming and Data Science.

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
That you can learn it. Trying and failing is just a part of the learning process, so get used to it and don’t give up.

What is it about Bold Idea’s mission that really connects with you?
I mentioned it before but the focus that Bold Idea has on a growth mindset really resonates with me. If I had established one earlier in life then I don’t think I would’ve ever given up on Computer Science. It is also really important to establish in kids now since it looks like the work landscape of the future, with all of the changes in technology and automation, is going to rely on people who are able to constantly learn new things and grow.

Meet Bold Idea Mentor: Jordan

Meet Jordan Mason - a software engineer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alum, and Bold Idea mentor. Learn how he went from a sports journalism career to the technology consulting team at Credera.

What is something many people don’t know about you?
Before my career in programming, I was a sports journalist. I’ve written for the Dallas Morning News, appeared on WFAA and Fox Sports Southwest, and produced highlights for ESPN just to name a few stops.

How did you become interested in technology and programming?
My first brush with coding was in a computer science class at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. I became interested in it as a career later in life when my brother completed a coding bootcamp and offered to show me the ropes.

What did you study in college? Journalism. That computer science class came the semester after I had just completed my internship at ESPN, so at that point, I wasn’t interested in pursuing a career in programming just yet.

What are you working on now?
For nearly two years now, I’ve been helping a retail client dip its toe in ecommerce, working on a variety of workstreams that include SEO enhancement, inventory visibility, ADA compliance, and implementing a system to reserve items online for pick up in store.

What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your most memorable moment while mentoring? Learning to code changed my life in a very short period of time, so I’ve wanted to pay that forward since getting my foot in that door. But building relationship with mentees and showing them someone who believes in them, and seeing the effect that has on them, has been the most rewarding part. My most memorable moment isn’t one – it was all the times I helped a mentee accomplish a task they didn’t believe was possible before we started the assignment.

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
All of the technology that fascinates you is mostly powered by a person and/or team that knows how to code. You can not only improve the technology that powers businesses and the world around us but you can help create it.

What is it about Bold Idea's mission that really connects with you?
Like I said, coding changed my life, so the opportunity to pay that forward was a no-brainer for me. If I can be the spark that helps a passing interest turn into a career for even one student then, for me, it’s worth every second.

Meet Bold Idea Mentor Victoria

Meet Victoria Summerville - a UNT Dallas business student and Bold Idea mentor. Learn how an early admiration for her dad led to engaging Oak Cliff students in technology today.

What is something many people don't know about you?
Something most people don’t about me is that I love helping people. It really makes my day when I’ve done something to help someone else, even if it’s small.

How did you become interested in technology?
My dad initially got me interested in technology. He’s always love airplanes and his job allows him to work in aviation as well as with the engineers who develop and create aircrafts for the military.

What are you studying in college?
I am currently studying business with a focus of HR.

What are you working on now?
I am working towards completing my bachelors then going into graduate school.

What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
I’ve gained an increased in-depth understanding of diverse perspectives and personalities.

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
I would tell myself to start practicing at a younger age so I could have mastered it by this point.

What is it about Bold Idea's mission that really connects with you?
The younger generations are our future, and I think it is important to engage them into the advancing world of technology and I’m glad to be apart of an organization that supports that.

Meet Bold Idea Mentor Jonathan

Meet Jonathan Florentino - a software engineer, Dominican Republic native and Bold Idea mentor. Learn how he went from building computers at age 10 to the tech lead on an engineering team at Alkami Technology.

What is something many people don't know about you?
I was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and moved to the United States as a teenager.

How did you become interested in technology?
I've been interested in technology from a very early age. My dad has been in the technology field as long as I can remember so I’ve been around computers all my file. I built my first PC when I was 10 years old. One of my earliest memories around programming goes back to modifying the source code of an old video game with Borland C++ back when I was 8 or 9.

What did you study in college?
I went to The University of Texas at Dallas and earned a Bachelor of Science in Telecommunications Engineering.

What are you working on now?
Currently, I am a Senior Software Engineer at Alkami Tehcnology. I’m the tech lead of one of our engineering teams responsible for our platform’s content management system and rules engine. I work primarily with C# and SQL in the backend and HTML/JavaScript in the front end.

What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
Being a mentor has given me a deeper appreciation for the importance of understanding underlying concepts. As an experienced engineer, I sometimes lose track of the sheer amount of assumptions and connections I can make based on my knowledge and experience. Working with students that are brand new to the field and helping them understand programming and machine learning has been a great experience.

One of my most memorable moments happened during this current semester when I was working with a pair of students to help them troubleshoot a problem. I was having to debug the code with them to try and figure out what the issue was. As we were troubleshooting they were giving suggestions as to what could be wrong and telling me to try this and try that. I could really see that they were thinking through the problem correctly and the suggestions they were making were excellent things to try. It was great seeing things click and their gears working as we tried to solve the problem (which we ended up solving).

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
I wish I would have explored programming more as a kid. While I dabbled with programming during elementary school and high school it really wasn’t until college that I started to truly learn it get a passion for it. So if I could go back I would tell my younger self to explore programming more seriously.

What is it about Bold Idea's mission that really connects with you?
I was around the same age when I started programming as the kids I mentor. While I was fortunate to have a parent that could teach me, I certainly would have enjoyed having a program like this as a kid. So the fact that this is being provided to kids and helping them explore what is out there from a technology perspective is a mission that really connects with me.

Meet Bold Idea Mentor Caroline

Meet Caroline Bell - a data and AI consultant, STEM advocate, music performer, and Bold Idea mentor. Learn how a website competition in middle school led to a career in machine learning at Microsoft.

What is something many people don't know about you?
When I was 18, I performed in New York at Carnegie Hall with a International Choir. It led me to get a scholarship to do Music Performance in college, which I accepted for the first semester of college before switching major to Business.

How did you become interested in technology and programming?
When I was in 7th grade, my school offered a coding class in HTML. The following year, I helped my science class with a website competition. I was far ahead of the other kids since I already knew HTML. I loved that feeling of typing some lines of code and seeing my work come to life.

What did you study in college?
During undergraduate, I studied Marketing and Healthcare Management. I immediately went to Graduate School for my MBA, specializing in Business Analytics. My MBA gave me the skillset I needed to become more technical and let do my interview at Microsoft.

What are you working on now?
Currently, I am a Data and Artificial Intelligence Consultant at Microsoft. I am working on creating the machine learning behind a bot. I do other small things currently like workshops and helping companies transfer their data to the cloud. I work mainly with SQL, a way to query large databases, and Machine Learning, essentially all the statistics classes I’ve ever had wrapped in code, projects.

What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
I was roughly these students’ age when I started coding. I wish I had this opportunity at their age. I’ve enjoyed being able to sit with a student and help guide them to the answer. The kids are incredibly smart, and it is amazing watching them solve their own problems. It reminded me about my love of learning and how the simple way of thinking things through can give you a clearer answer.

My most memorable moment was last semester with my students. At the beginning of the semester, some of the boys were new to the whole coding thing. By the end of it, they were putting their favorite things together on Scratch. One made a music video, and another told me a whole story through his project. I can see how these kids will be able to be successful in their future jobs because they tired thinking in a different way.

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
Growing up, coding was something my older brother did. I thought I wasn’t as smart as him and couldn’t do it. I had a passion for music, so I followed that instead and focused on theater, music, and foreign languages. As an adult, I would tell myself that ‘yes, I am smart’ and ‘everyone has a variety of skillsets that make them amazing’. I would push myself to curious about technology and to forge my own path without being afraid. The fear of failure kept me from embracing new things, like coding or machine learning. As an adult, the things I was passionate about can easily be applied to the work I do today. My unique perspective as a child allowed me to become a smart and slightly quirky adult.

What is it about Bold Idea's mission that really connects with you?
I have always been a strong supporter of STEM. As someone who grew up loving the arts, I also came from a hometown that was very tech heavy. I love how Bold Idea merges multiple interests into courses with coding and machine learning. There are a multitude of male and female mentors to help all the students be successful. I never had the opportunity to learn in such an environment as a child. This teaches kids far more than coding, it teaches them teamwork, thinking outside the box, and that yes sometimes turning it on and off again will fix the problem.

Meet Bold Idea Mentor Mae

Meet Mae Rock - an Alkami project manager, UTD alum and Bold Idea program site coordinator. In addition to having an awesome name, Mae uses her problem solving and efficiency skills to ensure that our Alkami program site runs smoothly each week. She rocks!

What is something many people don't know about you?
I'm the first person in my family to graduate from college.

How did you become interested in technology?
I've always been a "problem solver" and focused on efficiency - how to get the highest grade with the least amount of studying, how to travel to the most places with the least amount of money and PTO, how to make the most money with the least amount of work, etc. As I got more familiar with computers, I realized you could do a lot more with less if you used a computer as part of your resources, so I took Keyboarding and Computer Science in High School.

What did you study in college?
I went to UTD (woosh!) and graduated with a BS in Neuroscience.

What are you working on now?
I am a Project Manager working on Banking Software and Apps. I'm the one who gathers requirements from the client, translates them into technical work for the "doers" such as computer programmers, then translates what's been done back to "normal speak" for the client. It requires skills in organization and communication, and a lot of technical knowledge.

What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?I've learned to turn projects on their head and think about it from a completely different angle. When working with kids and working with people new to coding (or new to this specific project), you see how they approach challenges differently than you would, and that's a really good tool to have for my own projects and life. The moments that stick with me the most from Bold Idea sessions is when troubleshooting or debugging works out - everyone is so STOKED to have found the problem, put in hard work, and then see it FIXED.

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
Keep an eye on the news for up-and-coming programming languages, software, or hardware. The industry is changing all the time, and if you start learning about it early on, you may become an expert while most people aren't paying attention yet, and then that skill-set becomes exponentially more valuable.

What is it about Bold Idea's mission that really connects with you?
"Bold Idea develops critical thinkers, problem solvers and effective communicators who are proficient in core technology skills" - these skills are integral to any mature, successful person. Having the opportunity to be a part of cultivating these attributes for the next generation makes me feel involved and proud of the future.

Meet Bold Idea Mentor Thomas

Meet Thomas Crain, UT Dallas computer science student, future Microsoft intern, master lock picker, and Bold Idea mentor. See how empathy has made Thomas a valuable mentor.

”Understanding the emotions of the mentee is way more important than just knowing the answer as someone with a background in software engineering.”

Meet Thomas…

What is something many people don't know about you?
I’m really into lock picking! Locks are fun puzzles to solve while learning how to keep a steady hand and be patient. Like most puzzles, there’s a huge spectrum of difficulty, and it’s a great feeling popping a new kind of lock or a really hard lock. Plus, I’ll never have to pay for a locksmith!

How did you become interested in technology and programming?
Growing up, my dad took me to a conference for Geographic Information Systems users. Seeing and getting to play with software that helped power the navigation systems of a Mars rover really showed me that programming is the ultimate toolset. I’m lucky that I had opportunities like this to spark my passion for computing. I’m also really lucky that my high school had great programming classes that taught me everything from web development to digital electronics. That helped turn my passion and curiosity for computer science into actual marketable skills.

What are you studying in college?
I’m currently an undergrad at the University of Texas at Dallas studying computer science.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently working through schoolwork and learning web development on the side. This summer, I’ll be a software engineer intern at Microsoft.

What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
I’ve definitely gained a greater sense of empathy from mentoring. Starting out, it’s easy enough to use your own knowledge and experiences as a crutch. You listen to the young coder’s problem, you diagnose the problem, and you give them the answer. It’s a trap that I’ve fallen into before. Understanding the emotions of the mentee is way more important than just knowing the answer as someone with a background in software engineering. Just giving them the answer without knowing the emotional context of their problem (frustration, confusion, panic, impostor syndrome, etc.) isn’t what mentorship is about. Empowering them to address and overcome those negative emotions is what really pays dividends in the long run.

I don’t have a standout most memorable moment, but watching some of the more hesitant young coders really open up over the course of the semester and become more confident in their own skills is awesome!

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
It’s okay to not feel passionate about coding all the time! There will be times when you’ve been working at something for a long time and it starts to feel like a chore. Hard work and perseverance are great, but knowing when to take a break is also a virtue. You’ll always be able to come back to the problem with a clear mind and motivation.

What is it about Bold Idea's mission that really connects with you?
It’s a bit specific, but I really like the usage of the word “empower” in the mission. “Empower” gives a sense that we’re doing so much more than teaching them coding. We’re also giving them the confidence to know that if they try something new, they can succeed in it! We’re giving them the courage to work through all obstacles that they face, no matter how hard! I just think that’s neat.

Meet Bold Idea Mentor Loveena

Meet Loveena Cherukunnathu, Bold Idea mentor, world traveler and data engineer. See how a high school programming class led to helping young girls write their first ‘Hello World’ today.

What is something many people don't know about you?
I love traveling and want to travel the world. I have been to 17 countries so far, which isn't a bad start.

How did you become interested in technology and programming?
I took a programming class as an elective in high school that used Alice. It is a drag and drop block coding platform where you can create scenes and stories. That was my first project and I was intrigued so I took another semester. We learned Java in the second semester and I was hooked.

What did you study in college?
Information Systems

What are you working on now?
I am a Data Engineer now. The past two years, I have been working on a cloud migration project.

What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
I like mentoring because I get to learn new skills like Artificial Intelligence and review old skills like Python. Also, learning what children are into these days is always interesting...back in my day, Fortnite meant 14 days.

I have gained a lot of great memories with fellow mentors and students. I have 2 favorite moments.

Day 1 of Fall 2018 semester, there was a new student who had never done programming before. I helped her print her first "Hello World". That moment was memorable because it took me back to when I first typed those same words, it changed the rest of my life.

Second favorite moment was explaining binary to children and their parents at the Dallas ISD STEM Expo. Some parents were absolutely shocked by the fact that computer could only understand 1’s and 0’s. Watching their expressions change with the new knowledge and their eagerness to learn more was priceless.

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
Keep practicing.

What is it about Bold Idea's mission that really connects with you?
I like how Bold Idea is reaching out to children and introduce programming to them. I like the environment Bold Idea creates for the children. They get to create games and projects on their own with the knowledge they gained from doing hands on projects throughout the semester. Bold Idea plants the seed and the children come back year and year to learn more.

Mentor Monday: Meet Sarah

Meet long-time Bold Idea mentor Sarah Sahibzada, a software consultant at Pariveda Solutions. For the past two years, Sarah has served as a mentor at our program site in east Dallas, helping students ages 8 - 18 build confidence in computer science. She is also a strong advocate for Bold Idea within her company, supporting volunteer recruitment and fundraising. We are lucky she’s on our team!

Meet Sarah…

What is something many people don't know about you?
My mom is my hero! She immigrated here from Peru, and she’s lived her whole life with the philosophy of giving back to her new home. She’s been a social worker, a special education teacher, and an assistant principal; she got her bachelors’ and masters’ degrees while my brother and I were growing up. She’s always told me to lead by example, in both words and actions – regardless of what others might have to say, she holds her head high and continues to do the right thing.

How did you become interested in technology and programming?
It all started with Neopets! My nine-year-old self struggled through the process of “why doesn’t this work? Oh, I typed ‘tr’ when I meant ‘td’. ” long before I knew it would be useful for anything beyond making an obnoxiously bright pink and glitter-text-heavy page for my Neopet.

I am so thankful for this experience - long before technology was something I studied or how I made my living, it was just fun.

What did you study in college?
In undergrad, I double-majored in Mathematics and Computer Science at Texas A&M University.

In the fall, I will start graduate school (part-time/distance) studying Operations Management at The University of Arkansas.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on the product architecture and requirements for a construction progress-tracking mobile application for Oncor Electric Delivery, which is cool since they’re on my utility bill. In the past, I did full-stack web development for predecessor/foundation for this product.

What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
I’ve gained a deeper understanding of what it means to be a mentor. I got to talk to my company’s CEO, Bruce Ballengee, who was open about his successes and mistakes made as a mentor: in his words, the worst mistake you can make as a mentor is to make it about you rather than the other person. Throughout my time at Bold Idea, I’ve worked at transforming my mentorship from “teach people and help them to avoid making the same mistakes you’ve made” to “understand the needs and goals of each person and help them get there”.

My most memorable moment: in the Creative Computing class, when one team had a few disagreements about the direction they wanted to take their final project in, we walked through conflict resolution strategies. I worked with them and watched these two students come together and combine their ideas to create an awesome end product. It’s these skills - team building, collaboration, and compromise, that will help them become confident leaders in their fields later on, whether or not they decide to pursue technology.

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
You aren’t going to get it right the first time, or maybe even the tenth time, and that’s the whole point! It’s improvements to your process that result in the best possible end product, and you can only make those improvements if you keep at it until you figure it out.

What is it about Bold Idea's mission that really connects with you?
The idea of developing and empowering young minds. Everyone remembers what it was like to be a kid and have some people talk down to you and not take you seriously - I love that Bold Idea is about doing the opposite. I love that this organization is all about challenging the kids to do more by first mentoring them and showing them that you believe in them, then giving them the tools and guidance to learn for themselves. It’s that feeling of “I know that I can do this, and I have mentors who believe in me” that Bold Idea fosters, and that kind of confidence helps kids in every aspect of their life.

Mentor Monday: Meet Alex

Alex Polednik, a UT Dallas sophomore, has volunteered for the past year, mentoring students from 3rd to 9th grades.

Meet Alex…

What is something many people don't know about you?
Although technology has become a huge part of who I am today, growing up in Colorado has certainly had the biggest impact on how I like to spend my free time. I absolutely love being outdoors whenever possible to hike, camp, or fish without the distractions of a cell phone or computer.

How did you become interested in technology and programming?
Ever since I can remember, I have always been passionate about technology. For my entire life, my dad has worked as a computer engineer and would occasionally bring me in to work as a kid to show me what he was working on at the time. These experiences helped plant the seeds for my love of programming and hardware. By the time I got into high school, I was extremely interested in smartphones, and it was this passion that led me to begin programming in an attempt to create a game for my phone. More recently though, I keep myself up to date on new technologies that come out each year and have directed my interests toward the wearables industry.

What do you study in college?
I am currently a Sophomore at the University of Texas at Dallas studying Computer Engineering.

What are you working on now?
While I am not currently working on a project, I interned for Hawaiian Macadamia Nut Orchards this past summer as a Software Engineer. During this internship, I developed multiple applications to improve the efficiency of the orchard managers and harvesters including a personalized mass-messaging system in addition to an application for harvesters to digitally submit orchard information. The data gathered from this application is now being used to more effectively analyze the overall health and production of the orchards through machine learning algorithms.

What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
Through my work with the Bold Idea organization, I have learned how to better express complex ideas to students with no background in computer science. While one explanation might make the most sense to me, I often have to come up with two to three different explanations that hopefully relate to something the students have learned or experienced in the past that they can apply to a computer science problem. It has challenged me to think outside the box and better understand some concepts for myself.

My most memorable moment as a mentor occurred during my first semester with the organization. I was working with a pair of students in the Creative Computing group to come up with a final project idea. I had each of them write on the white board what they wanted the program to include, and then we worked to combine the ideas together. In the end, their faces lit up with joy when they decided on Unicorn Taco Soccer. I love seeing the creativity and excitement when the students get to see their idea go from concept to working project!

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
The one thing I would tell my younger self about coding is to never copy and paste code that I didn’t understand. My first programming experience was in my freshman year of high school when I wanted to create my own android game. Instead of truly understanding the code, I copied and pasted tutorials, which led me to become frustrated and give up when I didn’t know how to translate that code into my own application. It wasn’t until over a year later that I got back into programming and began to take the time to understand what the code meant.

What is it about Bold Idea's mission that really connects with you?
I firmly believe that all students should be introduced to computer science and given the chance to succeed. Through the Bold Idea program, I love seeing the students learn a new skill while having fun by expressing their own creativity with their peers. This aspect of the organization gets the students excited about programming and will hopefully lead many to pursue computer science as their career or even just a hobby.

Meet Bold Idea Mentor Brennan

Brennan Saul is a software developer at Pariveda Solutions. A Star Wars geek and computer science grad, Brennan mentors a team of 5th to 7th grade students at Rosemont, a Dallas ISD Internal Language Preparatory School in Oak Cliff.

Meet Brennan…

What is something many people don’t know about you?
Growing up I used to make stick-figure videos with a program “Pivot Animator”. They weren’t very good but it was fun to make my own movies!

How did you become interested in technology and programming?
My favorite movie growing up was Star Wars and I was fascinated with all of the futuristic technology in it like lightsabers, droids, and starships! In high school I took my first computer science class and even though writing the programs was really hard it felt so rewarding when I finally solved a tough problem! That sense of accomplishment is what made me want to major in computer science!

What did you study in college?
I majored in Computer Science and minored in Entrepreneurship at Baylor University!

What are you working on now?
I’m am working as a Software Developer for Pariveda Solutions. On my current project I am a full stack developer working with Javascript frameworks and cloud technology services!

What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
I am mentoring at Rosemont where the students are learning to write programs that interact with the video game Minecraft! My favorite moment was when two students finished writing their first python script. They struggled to write the code and fix all the errors but when the program finally executed successfully and their character teleported to another location the students were so excited and couldn’t wait for the next “mission”!

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
Don’t be intimidated by how complicated something seems! The fastest way to learn something is by doing it. Think of an idea for a small project and pursue it!

What is it about Bold Idea’s mission that really connects with you?
I believe that one of the biggest ways to make a difference in someones life is to give them the tools to empower themselves and encourage them! Through Bold Idea I get to do that while teaching something that I’m passionate about! Bold Idea seeks to teach students to think critically and communicate effectively these are two skills that are important for any occupation even if it isn’t technology oriented.

Brennan (right) with Bold Idea mentors Kevin and Nicki at Rosemont’s STEM Night, 2018

Meet Bold Idea Mentor Jared

Jared Hensley is a full-stack Javascript developer at Connexions Loyalty. Those skills came in handy this fall when he volunteered as a mentor in Bold Idea’s Creative Computing program. Many of the older elementary elementary students he worked with were experienced coders and took up the challenge of creating mobile apps using Javascript.

Though it wasn’t just his coding skills that made an impact on students. According to Stella Lin, site coordinator at our Bottle Rocket program site: ”Even more important than Jared's Javascript skills is his patience and calm demeanor to bring out the best in the kids with his questions and guidance.”

Meet Jared…

What is something many people don't know about you?
I am a big science nerd and really enjoy studying biology/biochemistry in my free time. I hope to make a move from web programming to something biomedical at some point in the future.

How did you become interested in technology and programming?
In middle school I really enjoyed making websites using online platforms such as Geocities, Tripod etc. (this was back in the late 90s!). In high school I took a turbo pascal class just because and ended up creating a book report for my 10th grade English class that was handed in via a 3.5 floppy disk!

What did you study in college?
I studied molecular biology and business. I did not go to school for computer science, although my science curriculum had overlap with a traditional CS degree path (calculus, physics etc.)

What are you working on now?
I am currently working as a Javascript developer and plan to transition away from the wild west of web development at some point in the future. As previously mentioned, the biotech sector intrigues me greatly.

What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
I had such a blast mentoring the creative computing group @ Bottle Rocket. ALL of the kids were amazing and were extremely well behaved. I thoroughly enjoyed my Saturday mornings and would come away smiling after getting to hang with them for a short while. I realized that kids are a lot smarter than I remembered :)

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
It's not magic! Most of us are just guessing.

What is it about Bold Idea's mission that really connects with you?
Exposing children to technology is crucial for their development. The world will continue to evolve and become more integrated with technology. The advancements from the 90s to 2000s to present day is nothing short of mind-blowing in my opinion. Another 20 to 30 years of development will likely surprise even the kids of today.

How we spent our summer

Coding projects designed, tested and trained. We’re ready for students!

Long before students start their first day of coding in September, the Bold Idea team will have spent countless hours and months in preparation. 

Starting in June, our staff and volunteers gathered to design new coding projects for students. This semester 6th - 12th grade teams can look forward to coding in Minecraft, while learning Python - a popular and beginner-friendly programming language. Most of us are big Minecraft fans as well, and it’s something students have been talking about for a while - so, we knew it would be a huge hit!

A group of our mentors and program designers during one of our Saturday hackathons.

Like our students, we are creators at heart. We love to explore what made us excited about coding when we were young and designing projects that engage young coders. And as software engineers ourselves, we know that a supportive mentor and hands-on experience can have a huge impact on building confidence in computer science. 

Mentor kickoff
Thirty six volunteers attended Mentor Kickoff recently and got a first preview of the new Minecraft + Python course. Working in teams of two, they took on ‘Level-Up challenges’ in Minecraft, like Escape the Pit and Teleportation Pad.

Mentors supporting 3rd-5th grade coders explored MIT Scratch and, new for this semester - a challenging project designed to help intermediate coders address a community problem by creating a mobile app solution. 

In total, 50 mentors will engage with students during Bold Idea’s weekly computer science sessions at 6 program sites this fall. 
 

Mentor Monday: Meet Jonathan

Jonathan Campos is a senior mobile architect at Bottle Rocket Studios. Each week he mentors the Jr. High students in our ideaSpark program.

Meet Jonathan...

What is something many people don’t know about you?
I feel like my home life is very different from my work life surrounded by computers. At home I am with my pets, working on the yard, trying to plant and grow. Very different than coding.

How did you become interested in technology and programming?
I started with 3D art a long long time back. Then realized with coding I could go further and make things that were useful. As time went on the joy of creation just kept pushing me to continue going further.

What did you study in college?
My undergrad was Arts & Technology, then in my Masters I shifted to Human Communication. It was fun and different to learn so much about how we as humans communicate, various cultures, and other specialties. 

What are you working on now?
Right now I am spending time learning more and more about machine learning while working with Bottle Rocket on new innovative ideas for our clients.

What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
I remember how fun it is to see something moving on the screen for the first time. For me it was white text on a black monitor. For them it is 3D shapes and games. I guess you could say that I see them as spoiled.

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
Don’t ever stop. The long hours of learning and losing sleep are worth it.

What is it about Bold Idea’s mission that really connects with you?
I really love teaching and sharing the rewarding and amazing experience that coding can provide to anyone. There really are few things as exciting as seeing something new working for the first time. Years later it is a daily thrill that I want to share with others.

Mentor Monday: Meet Julia

Julia is a high school student at the TAG Magnet School for the Talented and Gifted in Dallas ISD. Every Thursday, she volunteers as a Bold Idea mentor at the Wesley-Rankin Community Center. With a 5 on the AP Computer Science Principles exam under her belt, Julia can both empathize with the west Dallas students who are just learning programming concepts, while knowing where their interest can take them when they stick with it. Meet Julia...

What is something many people don't know about you?
Although I'm mostly involved in STEM, I'm a huge music nerd! I play multiple instruments, including clarinet, bassoon, and guitar, and I usually play in a jazz band. I'm currently writing the score for a school play.

How did you become interested in technology and programming?
I grew to love programming after taking my first computer science class at school. Programming is not only vital in today's world, but is also beautifully structured in logic, which is what made me fall in love with it.

What do you plan to study in college?
I hope to study Computer Science and Pure Mathematics.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on learning CSS and Java.

What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
I have learned to become a stronger, more confident leader. Without confidence, those who you are leading will not be inclined to learn from you. I want these kids to know that I am there to teach them and help them out, which will not be conveyed if my body language suggests the opposite. I have also learned a lot about my students and realized that some learn differently than others, and how to work with them so that they gain the most they can from their time with the Bold Idea team.

I can't choose just one memorable moment from this mentorship opportunity, because every single time I come to the community center I am impressed continually by these young minds. Their understanding of the code is tested and many of them work hard to understand.

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
This is definitely cliche, but no question is a "dumb" question! I was held back from learning coding by my own hesitations. Seize the day, waste no time in your journey of discovery. 

What is it about Bold Idea's mission that really connects with you?
I love that Bold Idea offers an opportunity for younger people to discover programming with the help of people who have gone through learning it already. It offers a space for kids to ask questions about programming; they aren't isolated, they have a space where they can flourish, where confusion will not act as a barrier, but as a conduit for learning.

Mentor Monday: Meet Nhat

Nhat Dao mentors students at the Wesley-Rankin Community Center. He enjoys seeing the 3rd-5th graders' excitement each week and enjoys the challenge of explaining computer science concepts in a fun way.

Meet Nhat...

What is something many people don't know about you?
I have resided in 3 states including Arizona, Idaho and Texas over the past 6 years.

How did you become interested in technology and programming?
I majored in Physics when I was a college freshman. After taking an intro class for programming using Python, I was hooked. I changed my major to Computer Science after realizing that programming can help me make an impact on everything almost immediately.

What did you study in college?
I studied Computer Science and Mathematics in college.

What are you working on now?
I’m working at Flywheel Building Intelligence Inc where I help building a cloud-based platform that offers real-time people, energy, and building management service.

What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
Learning how to explain to kids about programming concepts has been the most rewarding part of mentoring. Kids are the most challenging audiences for any kind of talks but I was glad that they got excited to program after the first few sections. My most memorable moment had to be this one time when some of the kids figured out how to add sounds on scratch. They managed to have a person sprite rap!

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
I wish I could tell my younger self to go to as many hackathons as possible. Once you got into the industry, there are less time and opportunities.

What is it about Bold Idea's mission that really connects with you?
Teaching kids at young age how to program does not neccessarily mean that we convince them to pursue a career in Computer Science but much more than that. As Steve Jobs once said “Everybody in this country should learn to program a computer, because it teaches you how to think”, we want to help kids develop from coding to computational thinking.

Mentor Monday: Meet Sreyas

A Senior Quality Assurance Engineer at T-Mobile, Sreyas mentors our youngest students each week at The MIX. 

Meet Sreyas...

What is something many people don't know about you?
I am a good cook.

How did you become interested in technology and programming?
Since my childhood I was always interested in computer and and computer games. I always wondered how computers worked and how to  create my own game. 

What did you study in college?
I have a diploma in Information Technology, BSC in Computer Science and M.S in Information Systems Management.

What are you working on now?
I am a Sr. Quality Assurance Engineer at T-Mobile. I use automation tools like Selenium Webdriver and Java to test web applications. 

What have you gained from being a mentor? 
I have learned how to mentor kids and its easy to solve a problem when you think like a kid.

What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
Initially it was difficult for the kids to understand the basic concepts about programming so I had to explain to them by the way they understand like explaining them with examples that they understand i.e “a function is like a cookie jar” which was a new experience for me.

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
I wish I could had learned programming at a younger age. 

What is it about Bold Idea's mission that really connects with you?
The opportunity to share my knowledge to young minds and help them learn programming.