Meet Soren: 9th-Grade Game Developer

“Having experience with coding has definitely made my high school year so far a lot less stressful, because it’s just one class I really don’t have to worry about.” - Soren Ingraham, 9th grade

Soren decided his future career in the 7th grade - game developer. It was his first year participating in Bold Idea’s weekly computer science program. Over two semesters Soren learned to design games and code them in the Javascript programming language.

“That definitely got me thinking about how games are designed and how fun it would be to work on them,” he said.

“I got to make my own game and see people have fun playing it. I shared it with a bunch of people at my school, and they all got hooked for a couple days. That was really fun.”

In nine weeks, Soren and his team made a 3D version of the classic arcade game Asteroids. The player can fly around in a spaceship, shoot at asteroids, and try to protect a planet they designed.

“We had used up so much memory on the computer just on the asteroids, like 500 asteroids floating around, that all it was able to handle was just a plain white sphere for the planet,” he laughs.

Prior to Bold Idea, he had tried robotics at school and a little online coding, but never a lot of it - much less code his own game. “This has really opened my eyes to everything that’s possible with coding.”

Soren is still coming up with ideas for future games and writing them down in his journal. He’s tried to make a couple of them on his own and wants to build more experience in Javascript.

His main focus now is freshman year at TAG Magnet School, a Dallas ISD high school ranked as #11 in the nation by the US News and World Report '2018 Top High Schools in America’. Soren applied for this competitive school and was accepted.

Computer science is a required course at TAG, but Soren feels more than prepared to take it on. “Having experience with coding has definitely made my high school year so far a lot less stressful, because it’s just one class I really don’t have to worry about,” he said.

In fact, Bold Idea has given him the confidence and skills to help his classmates catch on to tough concepts, and he’s and connect with people who share his interests.

“It’s let me make friends with a lot more people - people at my school who are also interested in computer science,” he said.

Soren now mentors younger Bold Idea students in east Dallas and it’s clear he’s having an impact on them. “He is very helpful in every way,” said 6th grader Nadia Flores. Soren worked with Nadia this fall to code a website about an ice cream shop.

At TAG, he’s also taking an elective called Math Behind Games, where he’s learning how to apply concepts from math to different board games.

“For my project the past six weeks, I coded a simulation of a Monopoly game to figure out which spaces were landed on the most and the average revenue per turn for each property, so that was really fun. Jail was the space landed on the most, because there are four different ways to get to jail - speeding, landing on Go to Jail, chance and community chest. But the property where you’d earn money the fastest was New York I believe, because it was about seven spaces away from jail. That was really fun to do.”

Why learn to code when you’re young?

According to Soren: “It’s just becoming a more and more important skill as time goes on. In just five years, everyone must know at least a little coding. The earlier you learn, the easier it will be. Computer science can be really interesting depending on what you try. Show them (middle schoolers) the things that are fun, like making your own game, and that will get them interested.”

Our Donors Helped Us Level Up. Here's How.

Because our donors gave, Bold Idea leveled up this year. How great is that?!

Over 60% of our revenue comes from donors like you. As a result, we are serving our greatest number of students this fall - 106 - through weekly computer science learning and mentoring. (Check out our fall 2019 impact data).

Bold Idea is now better equipped to serve these students. With your financial gifts, we were able to:

• Invest in outcome measurement. We recently implemented CNM-pact, a data analysis and visualization software, to track, analyze, and report our data using a valid data collection methodology. Because of CNM-pact, our student outcomes are more easily tracked and more easily understood.

• Re-design curriculum and pilot digital badging. Our education director Ben refreshed our website development curriculum and wrote new coding resource guides. He also created new HTML, CSS and communication badges to help with measurement and keep students engaged.

• Up our printing game. We purchased a new high-efficiency printer, toner and paper. Every student this semester has his or her own learning materials printed in bright colors.

• Establish 5 program sites with 8 new multi-year partners. We’re now working with companies like Credera and The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, as well as community organizations like Margaret B. Henderson Elementary and Heart House. Our footprint has expanded to Vickery Meadow, far south Dallas, and east Oak Cliff.

• Purchase program supplies - like Bold Idea t-shirts for students and volunteers, sketch paper and colored pencils to wireframe projects, folders, rubber ducks, posters, and more.

• Expand our team. We now work with a contract grant writer to help us secure new funding from foundations.

• Sustain day-to-day operations. From internet and utilities to insurance and volunteer background checks - it’s all critical to building a sustainable organization.

Phew - that’s a lot!

THANK YOU for giving to Bold Idea - and in effect, supporting computer science equity in the north Texas community. Because of you, students like Elias and Sophie have a bright future ahead in technology.

P.S. How do you want to see Bold Idea grow in 2020? Consider making a gift this holiday season that’s meaningful to you. Donate at boldidea.org/donate.

A brighter future in 2020 starts with you

Because of your generosity this year, more Dallas students are using computer science to solve problems, build things that they want to build, and learn how computers are changing the world. Students like Elias and Megan are on the pathway to higher paying and competitive jobs in technology and engineering.

Help grow our capacity

Bold Idea is raising $3,000 during our end of year giving campaign - now through January 1. With your help, we can hire a program assistant in 2020 and fund expenses for the spring semester, like learning materials, posters, mentor training, and technology infrastructure.

This holiday season, consider making a one-time or monthly gift to Bold Idea so we can provide 300 students in Dallas with life-changing computer science learning and mentoring in 2020.

Together, we are investing in the youth of Dallas - our future technology workforce. Thank you for your generosity!

With gratitude,

Robyn

P.S. Support Bold Idea while you shop with AmazonSmile. It’s a simple and automatic way to support Bold Idea at no cost to you. Simply go to smile.amazon.com, select Bold Idea as your charity of choice, and then start shopping. Be sure to bookmark smile.amazon.com for future visits.

Meet Megan: Solving problems with friends makes coding fun

Bold Idea is not like a traditional classroom - and that’s what makes it fun, according to Megan, a Dallas 6th grader. When her mom signed her up in 3rd grade, Megan was excited but not sure what to expect. She pictured a classroom with students doing their own work and raising their hands when they needed help from a teacher.

“But it’s not,” she said. “It’s you and a partner. You get to have more fun than a classroom. You get to collaborate more, and there’s more problem solving. Because in Spanish you’re just learning words, and in English you’re just writing. You’re not solving anything.”

Soon after joining Bold Idea, she had her first problem to solve: Make a character shake in a simple MIT Scratch game. She coded the character to turn left 90 degrees and then right 90 degrees. But the action was so quick that the game user wouldn’t notice the movement. Megan solved it by adding a timing delay between the motion and then putting it in a loop, a computer science concept that repeats an action over and over again.

In her three years with Bold Idea, Megan has learned to embrace problem solving and seek help from her friends or a volunteer mentor. “I felt proud of myself whenever I was confused about something, got help, and then figured it out.” And she has a good response when frustrating problems do come up: “I try to stay calm and work it out. Sometimes I have to take a break.”

She also thinks it’s cool that the mentors do this kind of work in their jobs at Bottle Rocket. “I really like it,” she said. “I think it’s inspiring.”

Megan encourages her friends and other girls to try computer science. Many have signed up, and she feels that it’s brought her closer to those friends and helped her make new ones.

For girls at least, learning to code in elementary school is smart, according to Megan. At that age, they’re open to exploring lots of different activities until they find their ‘one thing.’ By high school, it’s too late, she feels. “If they never try it up to high school, they’ll never know.”

Among the many things she likes, computer science ranks high. “I feel like it can impact my future. It’s something I can do for a living - or I can do something else with computer science.”

Fall 2019 - ideaSpark Snapshot

By Ben Davis, Education Director

With Bold Idea, more Dallas students are using computer science to solve problems, build things that they want to build, and learn how computers are changing the world. In fact, our student participation has grown 20% this fall.

I’m excited to share our first quarterly impact report.

This is a snapshot of our ideaSpark computer science mentoring program this fall semester. Be on the lookout in January for a report on our overall student outcomes.

Together, we’re helping students start on a path in technology, from 5th grade to high school and beyond.

Read the Fall 2019 Snapshot.

Meet Elias: Computer Science Fuels His Creativity

Elias is a creative person. “I like coloring, drawing, painting - creative stuff,” said the Cedar Hill 8th grader. He joined Bold Idea’s ideaSpark program two years ago at his Dallas middle school. He had no idea then that he could be creative with computer science. But that quickly changed with his first project, a mobile app. “I got into it. Just - poof! It all came to me.”

Computer science has given Elias another creative outlet. Website development is his favorite of all his coding projects. Languages like HTML and CSS give him the freedom to design and create, he says.

“I think I’m most proud of myself when I’m being creative,” he said. “Technically, your whole life is based on creativity, and you use it throughout school and really everything.”

And that creative mindset will help students like Elias go far. In LinkedIn analysis, creativity topped the list of soft skills that employers are looking for in 2019. 

Every Wednesday Elias meets with a team of students and his mentors, volunteers from Pariveda Solutions and Texas Instruments. Many of the same people have mentored Elias since he started Bold Idea, like Nicki Hames. He said, “It takes a lot for the mentors to be here at middle school. It’s a privilege for them to be here. They get up in the morning, go to work, and get in their cars and drive themselves all the way over here. They care a lot.”

“For a long time, I thought computer science would be fun, and then I found this group,” Elias added.

While he couldn’t nail down a career choice when he entered middle school, Elias is now thinking about a job in computer science or psychology - careers where you can listen to people and design solutions. Next though, Elias feels confident that he’ll do well in a high school computer science class and wants to mentor students younger than him. 

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.

Meet Bold Idea Mentor Tyler

Meet Tyler Milner, Bold Idea mentor, pepper plant grower, and iOS architect. See how an early interest in tech and computer gaming led him to a career at Bottle Rocket.

What is something many people don't know about you?
I love spicy food. For several years, I've grown my own pepper plants. This year, I've overwintered 9 varieties of plants ranging from sweet bell peppers all the way to super hot ghost peppers and beyond.

How did you become interested in technology and programming?
From a young age, I've always been interested in technology and figuring out how things work. Computer gaming got me deep into the world of PC hardware and software, and then I took a programming course my sophomore year of high school. Going into it, I didn't think I would like programming, but after the first year, I took the class for the rest of my high school career so that I could practice my skills and compete in UIL competitions.

What did you study in college?
I started out studying Computer Engineering at UT Dallas, but switched to a Computer Science and Software Engineering double major about halfway through.

What are you working on now?
Today, I work as an iOS architect at Bottle Rocket where I develop iOS applications for our clients.

What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
As a mentor, I've gained an appreciation for the people that facilitate the teaching of programming to others. Coding on its own can be a difficult concept to grasp, but coming up with a curriculum that teaches people to code is even more challenging! So far, my most memorable moment while mentoring has been when two students work well together and are able to reason through and solve a problem on their own.

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
Coding is all about learning from experience and trying new things. Make sure to set aside free time to build anything cool or interesting to you. Better yet, find a friend that's also interested in coding and make something together!

What is it about Bold Idea's mission that really connects with you?
I think the belief that all students deserve the opportunity to learn computer science connects with me the most. Coding is a great way to build problem solving skills, which will be a vital part of everyone's future.

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 Andrés

Andrés Ramirez

Bold Idea Mentor

What do most people not know about you?

Regardless of my career path of software engineering, I like to be outdoors most of the time – running, cycling, rock climbing, or even social dancing. I started with running – I did that all the way through high school and college, and still do. During college I started accruing some of those other hobbies.

How did you get interested in computer science?

I was a math major and I ended up taking an introductory course in Python for a credit. I ended up liking it quite a bit, and I was able to transfer some of those math credits for a computer science degree. It all started with that intro to Python course.

What caught your attention and convinced you to swap paths?

It was mainly all the things that I was able to do, like building a cool interface for the user to interact with, put information into and request stuff from the program with.

What project are you currently working on?

I’m actually in the middle of converting a graduate school thesis project dealing with hyperspectral imaging into open source code. It will basically be a toolkit for dealing with super large images. Hyperspectral imaging is just a fancy word for images that have more than just the red, green, and blue channels. These tend to be large images; they can be from one GB up to 500 GB in size. This code could be useful for remote sensing with airplanes or drones.

What have you gained from being a mentor with Bold Idea?

I’ve been working with the third to fifth grade students, and I’ve learned a lot of patience. Sometimes they get impatient, or they just get tired of working for an hour straight, so I try to understand them and think of new ways to go over concepts they can’t understand.

Also, I’ve learned what my level of mastery is on some topics. It becomes apparent if you don’t know a topic when you can’t explain it to a younger kid. So, I’ll go back home, hit the books a little bit and try to think of a different manner to explain it to them.

What is something you enjoy about volunteering here?

I like the “aha” moments they have when they’re struggling to debug something, and then I don’t give them the answer fully. They just use all the ideas and knowledge that I gave them before, and then they reach it and say, “Oh, this is why!” and they get all happy and continue working.

What is it about the mission here that connects with you?

It’s been good to give my time and spread computer science out to anybody that wants to learn it. It’s the same idea of why I’m making an open source program – I’m making the knowledge freely available. I’m just trying to spread knowledge to people, basically. It doesn’t have to be at a cost. I’m not saying don’t go to school, but even if you do go to school and want a career change, there’s a lot of freely available resources that should be doable.

Why Learn Computer Science

Earlier this month, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg testified before the U.S. Senate. And while the hearing encouraged a necessary national conversation about data privacy, I can’t help wondering if many of the questions he received from Senate committee members reflected a poor understanding of how the technologies that we use everyday, like the Internet and social apps, actually work. 

Everyone from our 3rd grade students to my 83-year old grandmother is dependent on computers. Yet most people fail to understand what goes on inside that computer. If you have no clue how the most important things you interact with everyday work, you can start to tune out of the world. These technologies might appear too complex to comprehend - like magic. (It’s not). It also kills curiosity. 

We learn how electricity works, why the sky is blue and how airplanes fly. It is critical that we also demystify computer technologies for our students, regardless if they grow up to become computer programmers. Every student deserves the opportunity to learn about algorithms, how to create an app and how the Internet works.