Stars on Earth
A school project that grew into coding workshops and educational videos for children in India.
2017
High school
Teaching kids to code
Where it began
Stars on Earth began in 2017 through the Independent Study and Mentorship program at my high school. The program gave students a chance to choose a field and develop a project around it. For me, that field was computer science.
My project focused on introducing students in India to the logic behind programming.
Getting connected
The first school had neither computers nor internet, so getting connected came before learning to code. Raising about $900 made it possible to get computers and internet for the school.
Lessons began with MIT Scratch, a visual programming language that helps students understand logic through simple projects.
Teaching in Texas
That love of teaching continued during college. As part of UT Dallas’s computer science outreach program, I visited schools in Texas to teach computer science and programming.
Keeping it going
A group of friends joined the project to keep it going for students in India. Together, we created educational videos about different programming languages and ran more workshops.
41 girls
Our last workshop had 41 girls taking part. I loved seeing how interested they were in learning and being part of it. The workshops had to stop because of COVID, but their enthusiasm has stayed with me.
