BOLD YOUNG TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING STUDENTS
(BYTES)
The BYTES Coding Program is an afterschool program that meets 4 hours a week to teach underserved middle school students of color grades 6 to 8 the fundamentals of computer coding. Our instructors and mentors will work with students to help ignite a passion for computer science while also providing hands-on-education on the fundamentals of computer programming.
Our Vision
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To turn young students of color into thriving Computer Science and Information Technology (IT) professionals as well as entrepreneurs.
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To increase the number of students applying to and graduating from computer science, engineering, and IT undergraduate and graduate schools.
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To increase the number of people from our community creating their own Tech based business.
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To tap into students’ inner potential that may be suppressed by socio-economic factors.
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To ignite in younger students an interest in IT and computer science activities and instill in them the confidence to pursue a productive career and entrepreneurial endeavors.
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To improve the IT and computer science literacy of youth from underserved communities.
Develop Future Engineers and Problem Solving Skils
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The purpose of the program is to expose, inspire as well as introduce historically underrepresented and /or economically disenfranchised middle school students of color to computer science and the future opportunities that it offers.
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To engage, educate and empower students – from middle school, 6th grade to 8th grade – by providing resources, support and guidance to help them reach their true potential.
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To help meet the nation's STEM needs by diversifying the Information Technology workplace.
How We Do it
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We work with small number of students, about a dozen or less, but we would look to add more students in the future.
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We provide students with laptops and classes will taught by experienced IT professionals.
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Instructors would teach 4 hrs per week.
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Training sessions would be held 10 weeks.
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We teach in demand programing languages principles and fundamentals.
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Make use of online resources such as code.org CS Fundamentals Express Curriculum.
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Ex: Curriculum from code.org for CS Fundamentals – Express (beginner)
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Advance courses are TBD. For more details click the link below and / or review the summary below for a brief overview.
Example of BYTES Students
Final Projects
Since 2018, the BYTES Program has instructed over 50 middle school boys and girls to date. Our instructors have been a mixture of Professionals with Information Technology experience who volunteer time and college interns that major in Information Technology. At the end of our Fall 2019 class our students had to complete a final project in which we asked the kids to use the concepts we taught them along with their creative imaginations and create their own boardgame. We selected the top 3 projects and provided those students with prizes.
Below you will find links to their work. These students came into the class with limited knowledge of coding and were able with guidance create a board game app in a modified version of Java Script using Bitsbox and implementing the fundamental coding concepts learned through both Code.org as well as Bitsbox.com curriculums. Feel free to cut and past the links below into a computer browser or mobile device to explore the apps. Not only did the students learn fundamental coding concepts, they also benefited by learning other key principles such a problem solving, teamwork, analytical as well as sequential thinking, and curiosity. These are all skills that will serve them well regardless of what career path they choose whether its in computer science or some other field.
Here's a link to view Denim's app:
https://bitsbox.com/run.html?4x1zn
Here's a link to view Carmelo's app:
https://bitsbox.com/run.html?y7h5l
Here's a link to view Quentin's app: