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For the Fall 2022 Newburgh Girls Code Club switched gears to experiment with new audiences, and was reformatted as Newburgh Coding Club for the youth.

10 boys and girls enrolled for the Fall 2022 cohort to learn coding and Computer Science basics from scratch with Scratch.mit.edu.
We mixed boys and girls of the age of 8-13 (with Girls:Boys as  3:7 ratio), and welcomed newbies to collaborate with alumni. It was a great experience for all participants learning, coding, practicing idea generation and problem solving. In addition to Coding we introduced the Entrepreneurial approach - what does it take to create a cool and meaningful game or business they’d enjoy themselves? What does it take to be an author / creator? What would they enjoy sharing and playing with friends? Through all our curriculum kids were able to pivot their projects a few times while learning the environment and tools, opening their eyes to the new possibilities, and getting inspired with each other.

Once again this season-long semester of our Newburgh Youth Coding Club provided a valuable learning and creative experience for the children while it became a transformational journey for discovering their own talents and strengths, and fostering their natural creativity. Through this program, they gained a variety of hard and soft skills that they can build on from now on.

From technology and coding perspectives they gained a strong foundation in computer science concepts. They learned how to use Scratch, a visual programming language, to create animations, chase games, quizzes, and drawings. This helped them understand how to apply the concepts they were learning in a hands-on way. They also learned how to debug their code, troubleshoot issues and improve their programs.

The children developed their problem-solving skills. Coding requires a lot of problem-solving, and the children were able to apply this skill to their projects. They had to think about how to create the animations, games, and quizzes, and how to make them engaging for the audience. Another challenge they had to face was how to fix any issues that came up during the development process.

After one class that was dedicated to exploring entrepreneurial opportunities in coding, they understood how they could use their coding skills to create something that could be monetized or that could engage and entertain an audience. It sparked their creativity and motivated them to learn more coding while considering their future entrepreneurial projects.

The children gained valuable teamwork and collaboration skills. They had to work together to share their knowledge and help each other out with their projects. It was essential for them to communicate effectively and to listen to their peers' feedback and suggestions.

Check their projects:

1. Rainbow trail arts game by Noah Blackwell, 11 y.o.
2. kawaii drawing game by Zuri Yeboah, 10 y.o.
3. Play Pong game by Galvin De La Rosa, 12 y.o.
4. Quiz game by Grant De La Rosa, 10 y.o.
5. Volcano eruption chase game by Kellen Evans, 10 y.o.
6. Platformer game by Kioni Mortimer, 10 y.o.
7. Entrepreneurial case by Samuel Nobondo, 13 y.o.
8. Doors rush horror by Lucas Pazos, 8 y.o.

Overall, the children gained a lot of valuable skills through the fall 2022 semester of our Newburgh Youth Coding Club. These skills will be beneficial for them in the future, whether they decide to pursue a career in computer science or use their coding skills in other fields.

OpenHub is proud of running this program since 2019, grateful to the Newburgh Free Library for the opportunity to teach kids these valuable and modern skills. With the deep appreciation we can not say enough of appreciation to our sponsor Rowley Family Foundation, and personally to Elizabeth Rowley who supported our vision from the day one and through all these transformational years.

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We are a for-profit based in Newburgh, NY that is working to create a network of learning opportunities in IT, Coding, STEM  (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) and digital technology at large. We partner with many organizations across Orange and Dutchess Counties to bring our programs to underserved children and adults in an effort to increase diversity in STEM education and careers.