CENG Brings Free Scratch Programming Classes to Santa Rita and Monta Loma Elementary

Computer Engineers of the Next Generation (CENG) Club is founded by a group of dedicated high school students who wants to improve computer literacy of elementary school students by offering free after-school computer programming classes to disadvantaged communities.

Scratch Programming Class

As our world grows with each technological advancement, minorities are underrepresented in all STEM fields. Studies have shown that barely 5 percent of all educational institutions are made up of minorities. To overcome this problem, CENG is dedicated to bridging the gap by giving the tools that many children need starting at a young age. Our first operation was at Santa Rita Elementary School where we hosted an 8 -week series of Scratch classes and teach students the basics of coding. They learn to make their rocket ship blast off, create their own mazes, build their own games like Breakout and Mario. In the past summer, we offered a weeklong summer Scratch camp at St. Athanasius Church serving needy families.

Monta Loma Scratch and Math Class

As we move from Los Altos to Mountain View, we learned that there is a huge need for free after-school classes in the community. Despite the fact that few free classes are offered, students also lag behind in Math which makes it difficult for them to pursue a STEM career. We are currently hosting a free afterschool 7-week Scratch and Math class at Monta Loma Elementary School in the Mountain View School District. We make our class longer from 1 hour to 1.5 hours so we can help them with their basic math concepts.

Expanding Class Offerings

Moving forward, we will be offering beginning, intermediate and advance Scratch and other programming classes like JavaScript and Python so the students can improve their skills slowly and gradually.