Classroom Story

My teacher Sandra Naranjo ignited my passion for computer science. She signed up to try Code.org’s Hour of Code during Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek). After that first experience, I became one of the first members of her after-school coding club.

I was amazed at how focused every one of my students was during CSEdWeek. They were all just so engaged. And I thought, my goodness, I need to tap into this.

Later that year, when the school asked if any teachers were interested in learning more about coding, I put my hand up.

I went with a colleague to Google in Venice to learn about teaching coding with CS First and Scratch , which gives kids the opportunity to code their own interactive games and stories.

After this training, I decided to set up an after-school coding club, which Victor joined.

Before I took that CS First course, I didn’t know computer science existed. I didn’t even know what STEM was. If you were to tell me then that I’d go on to major in computer science at university, the younger version of me would’ve said, ‘What?’”

But Ms. Naranjo told us something in our very first session that changed my thinking. She said, ‘In case you guys don’t know, computer scientists are relied upon on a daily basis. They’re the ones programming our phones, our computers, the games you play.’ She showed me that through computer science, I could do something that would play a big role in the world.

I loved it. We started with simple projects. Ms Naranjo showed us what a sprite was, and how we could make it talk. And, from there, we just started adding more. In that first year, we worked on creating our own video game in Scratch, similar to “Five Nights at Freddy’s” (a popular video game at the time).

Learning computer science wasn’t easy, especially as a first-generation undocumented immigrant.

In middle school I signed up at community college to study programming languages. Coming from a low income community, and from a low income family, it’s really difficult for my parents to afford Wi-Fi. I would go to the nearest McDonald’s to use the Wi-Fi, and be there for five to six hours daily, just to be able to learn a programming language.

Ultimately all my work paid off. I got accepted to UCLA, and I’m majoring in computer science and engineering now. I also joined the DevX coding club at UCLA, and in my first year I competed in a BattleBot tournament.

In my freshman year, I learned that less than 15 percent of people in the STEM field are people of color. My community is primarily people of color, so I wanted to do something to help increase our representation.

I founded United We Code, an after-school coding club for grades four to six. Most of my students are people of color, and they tell me they want to be coders in the future. This makes me really happy, knowing that I’m helping to make a difference and adding more diversity to STEM and computer science fields.

I want others to experience what I experienced when I first joined CS First. Throughout the past year, I have been visiting various elementary schools in my school district during their CS First sessions as a guest speaker, to talk about my experience as one of the first in my community to experience that program firsthand, and how it shaped my career choices. I also help students with their programming projects.

I hope I get to keep inspiring other students like me to not only go to college, but to major in computer science or STEM fields.

It’s so important to give students access to subjects like computer science. The skills they gain when learning how to code will help them in whatever they pursue. They’re problem solving, they’re thinking creatively, and they’re collaborating.