theCodeMatrix

theCodeMatrix is a nonprofit organization that strives to introduce club members in grades K-8 to coding. Through a series of games, activities, and projects, members explore the fundamentals of coding and application of computer programming in the real world. Our high school level student-volunteers teach and mentor club members with an emphasis on creativity, communication, collaboration, and community. Our leadership crew is divided into 3 groups: media, marketing, and technical. Technical team teaches our club members using our curriculum and develops our website, upcoming apps, and VR experiences. The Marketing team manages our budget and handles communication with sponsors, speakers, and coordinators of our branch locations. The Media team creates our content for our social media and writes articles for our blog. During the summer of 2016 we started a pilot program with 8 officers, and we taught 30 club members in grades 3-7 the basics of how to write code and how to create a static webpage using HTML5 and CSS. It turned out very successful with acclaims from the parents and the staff at the library who have expressed interest for us to return next year and expand as well. Since then, we have recruited 14 more club officers and plan to expand to 3 branches this year around the San Francisco Bay Area. We have also initiated a new project called Code + Infinity in which we introduce our club members to the connection between computer science and a variety of other fields, such as movies and philosophy. As part of this project, we are hosting a technology conference for middle schoolers next fall centered around these connections. Overall, the matrix is an environment in which something develops and our goal is to provide access to CS education in an encouraging and stimulating environment. Ultimately, what sets us apart is that we emphasize interaction, creativity, collaboration, and leadership and use code as a tool to teach those important life lessons.

Funded by San Jose, CA (February 2017)