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Code Ninjas, the world’s largest coding franchise for kids, is preparing to open its first store at 3 W. Nine Mile Road in Pensacola this March. The goal of teaching the next generation to not just consume technology, but to create it.
The facility is intended to be an after-school haven for the technically creative and curious, and a home for children who tend to pick up video game controllers rather than softball mitts. The purpose is that. Interest in this online realm is celebrated, and it turns kids into learning to build video games and eventually his set of skills to design their own games.
Pensacola franchise owner Joe Dawn Brown and her husband Stephen decided to plant a franchise in the Panhandle after seeing their now 15-year-old son doing well in the program.
In weekly sessions, children strive to achieve professional “black belt” status by mastering coding, robotics, and critical thinking skills. Progress is measured by earning her nine different colored bands that indicate proficiency. This is comparable to what you can get with traditional martial arts training.
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She said the difference between Code Ninjas and the school environment is that the kids are usually having so much fun and not realizing the depth of knowledge they’re getting. After seeing her son grow up, she thought the children in Pensacola needed a similar opportunity.
“My son had just come out of the womb and was doing high tech stuff. He was trying to teach himself,” said Brown. “When Code Ninjas came to our subdivision in Texas, I saw his computer coding, his technology, his robotics. It was like having my child there. Just being in this community of like-minded people.”
Brown was surprised to see students finish the program with finished products related to the real world under the guidance of a “teacher”. Each gong ring marks a new benchmark in the program being lifted, boosting inner confidence and unleashing creativity.
“By the time they graduate with a black belt, they will have created, designed and produced their own app or their own game that they could sell on the App Store if they wanted to. There are black belt ninjas from other franchises that are doing it,” she said. “They’re like her 14-year-old and her 16-year-old kid. It’s really amazing what they can do.”
As technology continues to become an increasingly integral part of our daily lives, it’s important for children to understand how technology can be used in multiple ways across different career paths, says Brown.
Exposing children to “high-tech” jobs in industries they might not immediately think of, such as the medical field or environmental sciences, is critical for the next generation of the workforce.
“We’re not trying to create a lot of Google employees,” she said. “I have a friend who works for a power cleaning company and they are now using drones to take care of all the skyscrapers. We are used to it and we don’t think about it.”
Children are inundated with clubs and electives to pursue their interests at the high school level, but children are rarely exposed to coding at the elementary and middle school levels. it’s simple.
“I like to explain to people that coding is a second language, very similar to many different kinds of things like Spanish, French, German, etc. Kids brains can absorb it. “So we’ve all been told to teach our kids when they’re young,” she said. People who can code and are comfortable with technology have access to things that people can’t (can’t) do.”
The experience they gained with Code Ninjas could ultimately pave the way for future careers and reshape Pensacola’s job market.
“Pensacola has really grown as a place for this technology, like the University of West Florida, and we have[the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition]downtown and these amazing We have a lot of programs.
The facility primarily operates on a tiered membership basis, where parents pay for class packages and schedule their children to come after school, on weekends, or on holidays. But the facility also offers opportunities that are an asset to local school districts, providing resources such as excursions, after-school clubs, and teacher training.
“We’ve seen the impact it’s had in our community in Texas and actually working with schools and working with them on what they haven’t been able to do provides something of a missing link. I could,” she said.
She also plans to partner with non-profits in the community to offer memberships and summer camps to children who are interested but have financial barriers.
Pre-sale pricing and summer camp registration will begin in February, and you can follow the latest information on the Code Ninjas Pensacola Facebook page.
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