South Bend Code School public report

south bend

CODE SCHOOL

A Comprehensive Overview



south bend

CODE SCHOOL

Letter from the Team
Overview
Statistics
Metronet Partnership
Internship Opportunities
Code Legion
Post-Program Survey
SBCS Team
Hopes Moving Forward

Why do you think it’s important for kids to learn how to code?

* Responses recorded from a survey taken by all students upon completion of last year’s program.

I think that it’s important for kids to It’s everywhere, and in everything
learn code because it is a good which means it’s super important for
skill to have and prepares them children to learn young. This way
for possible careers. when they get older they’re open
to so many more opportunities in
It is important for kids to learn how different areas in life.
to code because coding teaches a
different way of thinking, and a type Because it’s not
of logic that can be applied to more something that you
than just coding. would’ve thought
was possible until
I think it’s important because kids you’ve done it.
don’t realize how awesome it is to do
a job that you love and get paid for
it! I also think everyone should be at
least interested in it because it brings
infinite possibilities in the future.

Letter from the Team

It has been two years and quite a wild ride for South Bend
Code School. We started our journey with the mission of
helping to eliminate the barriers between people, technology,
and jobs by introducing youth in the community to coding.
Over the past two years, we have had an amazing experience
working with culturally diverse students, who each bring a new
set of interests, experiences, and goals to our program. As we
stand today, we have extended well beyond our initial goal of
increasing youth’s exposure to technology by placing students
in paid internships, exposing teenage developers to career and
academic opportunities with regional technology companies, and
highlighting technology based studies at colleges and universities.

The support that the South Bend community extends to us has
been unparalleled.We would like to extend our deepest thanks
to everyone who has helped or supported us, and the students
we serve.

- The SBCS Team

Overview

South Bend Code School’s mission is to eliminate the barriers
between people, technology, and jobs. We started our first
program in the summer of 2015 at the Robinson Community
Learning Center with one goal in mind: to build up at least one
student’s self-confidence so that he or she could believe that
learning how to code was an achievable goal. As it turns out,
we were able to have a greater impact on the entire class of
19 middle and high school aged youths.The students put their
learning into practice by building 23 web applications, 4 of which
were civic applications promoting non-violence in the city of
South Bend.They went on to present their applications to the
community that they hoped to positively affect, meeting with
local community members, city officials, and tech professionals.
The students then visited Google’s offices in Chicago, presented
their applications to Google team members, and spent the day
learning from industry experts. Although we did not realize it
at the time, this process would soon become the hallmark of
South Bend Code School’s program.

Two years later, we have lead 9 different programs, taught
over 90 students fundamental skills in web development, and
exposed close to 400 people in the community to coding
through our greater outreach efforts. By striving to become
more than a program that teaches students how to build
websites, we have had the opportunity to further help students
by offering career and college prep, core academic subject
tutoring, internship placement, and mentorship.Through these
efforts, we developed a stronger connection to our community
and created a special bond with those who live in it.

No Experience, No Problem

At SBCS we find faith in the phrase “no experience, no
problem”. In other words, we do not believe that a student has
to have any prior coding experience in order to succeed in our
programs. Rather, we believe that curiosity, grit, and a strong
desire to learn are true determinants of an individual’s success.
The majority of the students we teach have never coded before
entering our course. However, these young minds go on to
build websites and lead their community through innovation.

How has enrolling in South Bend Code School impacted your child?

* AReftseprocnosmesprletcinogrdtehde fcroumrsae,ssutruvdeeyngtsivwenerteo aosukredstuthdies nqtus’epstairoenn.tHs eartethweeerendthoefirlaasntsyweear’s. program.

She has been impacted in many He has learned that learning can be
ways! She has grown in knowledge, more than educational, it can be filled
creativity and her ability to dream with fun and genuine passion.
and plan her future has grown!
It has made her very motivated and
It sparked her imagination and helped her decide what she wants to
creativity. She’s thinking about new do with her future.
ideas and career path. Thank you.
He’s always excited to come. He has
She’s been very excited throughout gained confidence in his abilities.
the class about the knowledge she’s
gained, the projects, and the people He’s loved the program and is
in the class. It’s been a very positive motivated for studying engineering
experience. and computer science.

She’s been way more upbeat, He’s completely fallen
confident and future-oriented since in love with coding and
starting code school. It has truly can’t wait to continue!
been a boost for her self-esteem.

4.4
million

Statistics 3.9
million
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that there are
500,000 unfilled coding related jobs on the market today; and
that number is only expected to increase.

3,900,000 4,400,000

coding jobs in 2014 coding jobs in 2024

56% 47%

Underrepresented Female students
minority students

Metronet Partnership

In the fall of 2016, St. Joe Valley Metronet enabled South
Bend Code School to run its first open enrollment style of
programming by providing need-based scholarship support. By
offering SBCS the means to host an open enrollment style
program, St. Joe Valley Metronet provided Code School with
the opportunity to host a socioeconomically and regionally
diverse program. The course pulled together 26 students
from 19 different regional schools. The results were
such that the Metronet elected to start a scholarship fund for
students, enabling SBCS to make the opportunity of learning
how to code available to more community students.

181 608 313
Students who completed Websites built
our program Students served by South Bend by students.
Code School through our various
programs, school visits, and events

What kinds of special skills or talents can kids bring to coding and
computer programming that adults cannot?

* Responses recorded from a survey taken by all students upon completion of last year’s program.

Ideas, kids have ideas for days, so if Kids right now were born when
they have an opportunity a lot more technology started to grow. This
than not could make a big impact on means technology has been
their community, if not the world. consistently growing as they get
older so they will have better
Kids can learn coding faster and are experience with it.
also able to look at it from a different
perspective. Kids are often a lot more imaginative
than adults and so their ideas for
A creative and open mind. When what they want to do often have a
adults get older, their mind is greater scope than ideas that adults
no longer as open to different might have come up with.
possibilities, and is more focused on
straight and logical decisions. Kids bring a fresh mind
with an unrestricted
Fresh insight, innovation and ideas, imagination.
better understanding of popular
culture, an entire lifetime to develop
upon their skills.

Internship Opportunities Luma

South Bend Code School has had the privilege of forging Luma was built to deliver measurably better education outcomes.
wonderful relationships with great community partners. Over Luma applies research to merge learning science with digital
the past two years, our partnerships with tech companies engagement, improving retention. We build beautiful environments
fostered the opportunity for SBCS students to earn tech that serve the learner by making the complex simple and rewarding.
internships and opened the doorway for full time employment. We’ve proven the approach in nearly 400 courses for clients,
By hiring students, these companies play a critical role in the receiving terrific feedback.
career and college development of Code School students.
City of South Bend - Office of Innovation
We have included brief descriptions of some of the companies
where SBCS students have held internships: The City of South Bend’s Office of Innovation was established at
the end of 2014 as a centralized location for data analytics, process
improvement and technology optimization. This effort grew out
of a data-oriented process optimization program modeled after
the success of Baltimore’s CitiStat1 in the early 2000s. While
working as a dynamic unit, the Mayor’s Office of Innovation has
organized around three central objectives:Analytics & Performance
Management, Innovation Delivery, and Strategic Partnerships.

OneParish

OneParish is a free app and web platform to help grow parish
communities and increase involvement and giving. The OneParish
App has encouraging features to help parishioners grow in
faith and engage in parish life. It also includes a full web-based
administration system to help parishes manage their directories
organize donations, and send messages directly to parishioners via
their smart phones.

SmartTemps

The SMART Temps® Temperature Management System was
designed, developed, and patented by the SMART Temps
management team who, combined, have more than 50 years
of food safety experience. In its beginning the system’s sole
function was to aid in the management and safekeeping of food,
equipment and other temperature-dependent products for the
school nutrition industry. However, the SMART Temps system
goes beyond the safekeeping of food and beverage. With over
14,000 locations monitored, the system protects inventory such
as vaccines, medications, blood, labs, research, and other critical
inventory related to the healthcare industry.

Why did you choose to enroll your child in South Bend Code School?

* Responses recorded from a survey given to our students’ parents at the end of last year’s program.

She loved to work on computers He loves all things technological. This
and wanted to gain an in-depth to me was an opportunity for him to
understanding of coding. We had learn a skill that could change his
heard great things about the South life. Great employability skills.
Bend Code School program.
It gave him something new to
1) She’d been bugging me to find explore in a field that he already
some way to help her learn code. had intense interest in. It gave him
2) She’s not terribly challenged goals and responsibilities.
at school. 3) I really admire its
community-oriented approach. I’m The class gives him
very pro-South Bend. a greater chance of
getting involved in
To help build his capacity to the 21st century
use coding language and have job market.
experiences that impact his future.

To help her explore the tech industry
and see if there’s a potential interest
as a future career.

Code Legion

Code Legion is an alumni program, designed for the continued
tech and career development of South Bend Code School
students.When a student completes SBCS’ initial coding program,
Code Legion provides students with the opportunity to gain a
deeper knowledge of computer science skills and to apply their
knowledge across different platforms. Through Code Legion,
students have access to unique opportunities such as:

Projects

Example – FalCam
Code Legion students have various opportunities to work on projects for
their communities.With talents allowing them to build and launch websites,
students in our alumni program hold a highly in demand skill set. In early
2016,The City of South Bend approached Code Legion to build a platform
that would host the FalCam. The FalCam is a live video feed, capturing a
peregrine falcon nest that sits above the County City Building, in downtown
South Bend. Code Legion students scoped the project, designed the look of
the website, and wrote the code that the city launched.The FalCam has over
10,000 active viewers annually.You can visit their work and the final project
at falcam.southbendin.gov.

Community Guests

Example – Notre Dame Women’s Rugby
Guest speakers are an important part of our Code Legion classes.
Community guests serve as positive role models for our students, speaking
on topics such as the importance of hard work, integrity, and teamwork.We
invite a diverse array of guest speakers from various backgrounds, academic
areas of study, and professional fields. In the winter of 2017, the Notre
Dame Women’s Rugby team visited Code Legion. Members of the women’s
sport introduced team building exercises and encouraged our youth to be
steadfast despite which career and educational opportunities the students
might one day pursue. In exchange, our Code Legion students taught the
Women’s Rugby team how to code.

Career and College Prep

Example – Resume Building and College Applications
Through Code Legion, we help students with preparing for college and
career. Code Legion instructors guide our students through important
subjects such as college applications, financial aid and scholarship resources,
and standardized test prep (ex. SAT/ACT). Instructors also assist students
with earning paid internships by teaching resume building, cover letter
writing, and guiding students through the interview process. Once a Code
Legion student earns an internship, our staff conduct continual check ins
with both the intern and employer to ensure that the internship is a positive
fit for all parties involved.

What do you think is impressive about the projects you just completed?
Before this course, did you think this was something you could have done?

* Responses recorded from a survey taken by all students upon completion of last year’s program.

I think it’s impressive that they were I didn’t really think that I would be
actually completed and we learned one of the people who could create
how to do it rather quickly. Couldn’t something so intricate and detailed,
have done it before this class. but I am proud of myself for creating
something that solves a problem, and
What impressed me most was the looks so cool.
concept of having a blank page
and turning it into a application that The impressive part is that we all are
communities could benefit from. young and made some really cool
Before this class I imagined myself apps that could make it in the real
having to hire an individual to do world someday.
any apps for me. Now I am more
then capable of doing it myself. I’ve learned more
in ten weeks than
I think the fact that my team and college graduates
I created an entire website is know about coding.
impressive. I definitely couldn’t have
done it before this course.

100% 100% 100%

of students felt their of students wanted to of students said they
instructors were effective have a career in wanted to learn more

at teaching technology or coding about coding

Post Program Survey

In 2016, SBCS implemented a survey for students to take upon
completion of our program. 29 students have completed our
survey. Here are the results:

What does coding mean to you?

* Responses recorded from a survey taken by all students upon completion of last year’s program.

It means be able to create something Coding is a way in which I can
unique and something of your own. create anything I put my mind
It’s a whole other language that I am to. There are no limits, and it’s
learning to speak. something that can be done from
practically anywhere in the world.
Coding means taking ideas or
designs and making them come to Learning how our electronic world
life through a website. works, like biology for computers.

The chance to be apart of something Coding is a way to express myself,
new, that I can use to help so many and opens up a lot of possibilities
people around me. Anything that I for how we can communicate with
can do to be of service to someone others.
else makes me super happy.
Solving problems
It means more opportunities and & working together.
chances to make the world a better
place or do something that helps
people in some way.

The SBCS Team

Alex Liggins Co-founder Alex Sejdinaj Co-founder Chris Frederick Co-founder
University of Notre Dame ‘15
Indiana University Bloomington ‘11 Saint Louis University ‘01

Brandon Rich Developer Jules DeLee Designer Helen Cramer Designer
Baylor University ‘04 Saint Mary’s College ‘15 University of Notre Dame ‘15

JP Mulcahy Program Facilitator Travis Gayle Instructor Shaun Whitfield Instructor
Indiana University South Bend ‘19
University of Notre Dame ‘18 University of Notre Dame ‘18

Hopes Moving Forward

We have learned much over the past two years at South Bend
Code School. We hope to continue to grow and demonstrate
success. We will continue to use technology education to reach
others, expose youth to amazing possibilities and opportunities,
and grow talent in our region. Most importantly, we acknowledge
that a great deal of our success comes from the greater support
of a community that believes in our mission and we are deeply
grateful for everyone who has supported us along the way.Thank
you for your dedication to our cause.

Thank you!