Aaroh Mankad
As a volunteer for three computer science education non-profits, Aaroh has been working on building a community around the classroom that allows students to take charge of their own learning.
Aaroh Mankad is a senior at Mission Vista High School, planning on a computer science major in college. He has made programming his passion for five years, all starting with his first mentor: his older cousin. He volunteers for several non-profits that inspire students to explore the world of programming.
Aaroh's goal is to be able to be the same kind of mentor he has been priviledged to have throughout his life to everyone he meets.
We're going to start with all of us closing our eyes (take some of the tension off of me). Now imagine yourself in the most boring math class you ever took. The monotone teacher is just buzzing on and on about who even knows, you haven't been paying attention for the past twenty minutes. He decides to give you a last minute homework assignment (great, something to add to the two hours of Lit homework you have piled up), to learn something new about math. He says it isn't going to be graded, nor is it going to ever be tested. In fact, it's probably never going to be used in a classroom setting. How many of you would go home and learn something new just for the sake of learning (keep your eyes closed and be honest!)?
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Now, open your eyes. This is the reality of our education system today. This exact apathy is what I've been battling for the past three years, but to understand how I've been fighting it, you have to understand my background and my history.
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My name is Aaroh and I've been a programmer for five years. My parents moved to America with me when I was four, chasing better opportunities for younger me. I remember my first day of kindergarten, my mom had walked me to school (we only lived about a mile away), and she had taught my teacher the two, Hindi words for water and bathroom (I suppose my bases were covered). That day was my worst day as a student. I didn't know English, I couldn't make any friends, I felt utterly lost. Every day I left feeling this day was not mine, I didn't accomplish all I could have, if only.
This sentiment followed me throughout elementary and middle school, but it changed my first year of high school. I took an Intro to Computer Science class that is taught here by our very own Mr. Yee, and he taught me that my education rested in my hands. Over the next year, he introduced me to CodeDay, a word that would single-handedly flip my entire perception of what education could become.
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CodeDay is a twenty-four hour event that inspires students to explore the world of programming. I went to the event expecting to meet a group of geniuses who wouldn't give me the time of day. I was expecting CodeDay to be like any other day for me. (I laught about it now, because) I couldn't have been more wrong.
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CodeDay wasn't like school. My fellow attendees encouraged my progression hour to hour, and wanted to see me succeed. I was quickly introduced to an organizer, and he mentored me throughout the event, checking up on me every time he walked by my table. I was in a group of one more experienced programmer, a wizard to me at the time, and one other new programmer. I was surprised at how the wizard would take time to explain a new concept to me, knowing that the clock was ticking down. At the end of the event, I felt something foreign, the fact that I was proud of what I had accomplished. In fact, I was so moved that I vowed to become a mentor for others the same way that the CodeDay organizers had been for me. So I started working there. And for the three years that I've been working there, we've increased the percentage of newer programmers, and had 80% of participants continue programming after that initial weekend. I've occasionally taken part in CodeDay's again to experience it from an attendee's point of view, but it was never quite as illuminating as the first time. I realized that what drew me to CodeDay was the fact that I was learning something new, and I was being personally walked through it, before being let out on my own.
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I wanted to bring this Gift of CodeDay, this curiousity towards learning to Mission Vista. So in junior year, I wrote a curriculum for web development that could be easily taught to students who hadn't programmed before. Just this past weekend, I took it for a trial run. I gathered together a group of kids over Spring Break. Eric (photographed here), was one of them. Good news, all the feedback was positive. Students loved the idea of project-based learning, working toward an end-goal that they could take out of a workshop and claim to be theirs. Something to note, these kids were already driven kids, and while some required a push, others were already open to the idea of learning something new over their break. While giving back to my community was an experience that I will cherish, seeing the spark of curiousity and drive to learn in students like Eric was timeless.
Today my challenge to you is two-fold. For the teachers, find a way for your students to leave your class thinking I'm proud of what I accomplished today. For the students, find a mentor. This could be a friend, a teacher, or your parents. They are eager to pass on their knowledge and experience to you. Who knows, tomorrow could be your CodeDay...