By: Kathleen Huynh
Dynamic duo, Aniket Tyagi and Havi Le, run the Milpitas branch of CoderDojo. Sessions are held every Friday for two hours at the extension building in the bio lab. Every week, Tyagi and Le teach children how to code and program while learning some important life lessons themselves. Tyagi recalls a moment where a student, Fifth Grader Ayush, was able to have a breakthrough and finally understand concepts he was not able to grasp before. The struggle was real but Ayush did not give up, Tyagi described. One day after class ended, Ayush approached Tyagi and told him that he finally understood the concepts and thanked him, Tyagi said.“I thought, ‘I’m actually making an impact!’” Tyagi said. “I felt so important, I almost didn’t believe it. It sounds so cheesy too, I was like ‘no way, this isn’t actually happening.’”For Le, she finds joy in being able to connect with her students and their parents. As soon as a student enters the class, ready to learn, Le greets them with a bright smile and catches up with them.“There’s this group of girls in middle school and I’ve gotten to know them and their moms,” Le said. “Their moms are very knowledgeable about the science industry and the business industry and they share that knowledge with me.”Parent Fritzi Borja is a computer programmer herself and thinks that CoderDojo is a great program for her kids as well as other kids. She is also the PTA president at Pearl Zanker Elementary School and advertises the program on the PTA Facebook page.“I think learning from their student peers, although not necessarily the same age, gives them a different interest level into programming,” Borja said. “I am a programmer so I value anytime they can spend trying to learn a little more about it.”Tyagi and Le have completely different backgrounds in coding. Tyagi became interested in computers and coding when he was in fifth grade. On the other hand, Le had never heard about coding until she went to high school. The two met in the MHS Robotics club and formed an unlikely partnership. Together, their different experiences help them create a comfortable environment for coders of all levels. Aside from CoderDojo, Tyagi and Le have other projects. Their biggest being a startup company.“The product is basically a classroom assistant that uses a lot of analysis algorithms to help the teacher identify stress points and automate the workflow process for teachers,” Tyagi explained. “It could also double as a kind of social media application for teachers where they could share information.”Both Tyagi and Le are in the last leg of their high school careers with Tyagi being a senior and Le being a junior. The program will definitely continue, Le said. She has been taking note of how Tyagi conducts the class to prepare for when he goes off to college, she said. For the rest of the year, the two plan to finish strong and discuss future plans later.“I still want to volunteer after college apps. I find it fun,” Tyagi said. “It’s good to give the kids a kind of edge because I didn’t know how competitive [computer science] was. I want to give them a little nudge like ‘Hey, this is something you could do and even if you don’t want to pursue it as a career, it’s still a really good skill to have.’”