Original
---
I am running a proper programming camp for kids in July. I’m squeezing this in among all the other work, so I didn’t expect much time to promote it. This morning over my second cup of coffee, after a nudge from my business partner, I penned this email to our modest email list. I am saving it here for my future self.
---
I am running a proper programming camp for kids in July. I’m squeezing this in among all the other work, so I didn’t expect much time to promote it. This morning over my second cup of coffee, after a nudge from my business partner, I penned this email to our modest email list. I am saving it here for my future self.
Learn to Program on a Computer Adventure
Minecraft offers nearly unlimited adventures. You can learn how to gather and combine elements to create new objects. You can work your way up from building a dirt hut to survive your first night to building great palaces and castles. You can defend yourself against the creatures of the night. You can even program robots to automate some of the more tiresome work involved in advancing throughout the game.
Even then, some of our students find themselves at the edge of what the world of Minecraft can offer. They want more. They’ve tasted what is possible through the power of code and know that they could apply that power in their real-life as well.
That is why we’ve developed Computer Programming Adventure camps. Through this series of camps, kids will learn how to program in Ruby–a modern, accessible, powerful programming language–and eventually build their own application. It might be a website or just a simple tool to do something cool on the computer or make their life easier. The point is, they will know that they can use their computer to explore lands even vaster than Minecraft (or Fortnite, or Roblox).
They will understand this tool, these technologies, aren’t just passive devices whose only purpose is to provide us mindless escape and entertainment. They will understand that they have the ability to create anything they can imagine, just like they did in Minecraft, using the basic blocks of code just as they used the basic blocks of stone, iron, and diamond.
This camp is recommended for kids who have done at least some coding with us in the past, or some coding outside of Minecraft U. The recommended age range is 10 and up. There are only three slots left–we have kept the camp intentionally small. It runs from 5-6pm central time every weekday in July and will require an additional hour each day for homework.
Computer programming isn’t a mysterious magic reserved for predestined wizards. It is, however, a world to be explored, an adventure available for any with the desire and courage to venture forth. Join us now.
