In 8th grade, Skylar Urfrig discovered her passion for coding by taking the MBMS STEM elective, which gave her the opportunity to submerse herself into the complicated, but rewarding skill.
Today, as a senior at Costa, Urfrig’s love for coding is stronger than ever, and she hopes to not just build her own skills, but also share her passion with others.
Urfrig began volunteering her sophomore year at “CoderDojo,” a free coding class program. She was then asked to take over the organization during her junior year. Once a month at the Redondo Beach North Branch Library, she teaches the student-run free coding classes, organizing these lessons and volunteers through her Technology and Engineering Mira Costa Club.
“I am passionate about coding because I can use it to solve real-life problems and apply it to many different areas,” Urfrig said. “I decided to run this program because I wanted to share my knowledge and passion for coding with others, especially kids because I wish I could’ve discovered coding. I hope that I can help them discover their passion for the subject early on.”
According to Urfrig, her goal is to always create a positive and collaborative learning environment through her classes. After the day’s lesson, kids are able to work on building their own unique projects, with volunteers helping out anytime it is wanted.
“Usually, we will pick a topic we want to focus on, like if statements or variables. Then we will create a lesson or a game around that topic so that the kids can learn in a fun and engaging way,” Urfrig said. “It’s pretty cool how versatile coding is, and it’s rewarding to be able to build something on your own from scratch.”
Urfrig hopes to continue to make an impact through her classes, inspiring the younger generation to follow their passions with her engaging lesson plans. She especially strives to connect with girls who are passionate about coding and STEM.
“I think that coding is an important skill to learn, and it is especially useful to learn from a young age,” Urfrig said. “I also want to inspire more girls to be involved in coding and STEM as a whole, because there are not a lot of girls involved. Last year, I took Human-Centered Design, and there were about 20 kids in our class, but only 3 girls. Hopefully, my classes can inspire more girls to code so that this ratio is higher in the future.”
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