This week is National Coding Week and at Paisley YMCA, our young people are doing their part to showing their coding passions as they do every week in our space!
We offer free and interactive coding sessions every week on Mondays. Our Mecha Monday sessions are split into Junior and Senior sessions, allowing young people who are beginners at code to learn the essentials with others at the same level, while more experienced coders can learn more advanced techniques among their peers.
Some of our young people have been introduced to coding through these sessions, while others have had a deep interest in coding from a young age. Coding has always been a key component of our youth clubs as part of our STEM focused approach to youth work. Therefore, it is often associated with our space and many young people know it as a key place to visit in Paisley for those interested in code, as one of our young people says;
“I’ve coded since I was 8, I used to go to the library sessions with Paisley YMCA. Going to the library sessions and the YMCA coding clubs and Mecha Mondays inspired me, I want to be a games designer and the people at the YMCA really support me to explore coding and help me understand the coding and why it does what it does.”
These sessions can also introduce an interest and talent for coding in young people who did not know what it was or how it works. During lockdown in 2020, we had online Coder Dojo sessions that helped to introduce them to the world of code, such as one young person below;
“I got a book about Scratch when I was 6, but I never really understood it because I was only 6. I came to a couple of the Coder dojo sessions on zoom over lockdown. The youth workers running the session helped me understand the code and when I came to the in-person sessions – I helped contribute code and art to the jacquard loom project with Paisley Museum. The sessions showed me I like coding just as much as I enjoy animating and making sprites and I want to follow in my uncles’ footsteps as he’s shown me it’s a very useful skill to have and use. So, I’ll keep coming to sessions to help grow my skills.”
Coding is a useful skill for young people as our world becomes more technology focused every day. It can open opportunities for more STEM-focused skill-building and may unlock a passion that will carry into their future career;
“I started coding when I was 8 with the YMCA 6 years ago. I started with Scratch and I enjoyed it, so I kept coming. I haven’t really thought it through if I want to use code in the future as a career, but I do want to keep exploring coding with the YMCA!”
Our Mecha Monday Junior and Senior coding sessions are free and available to sign up for on our Eventbrite page. For more updates and information, follow our social media handles (Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram).