Student Coder Profile: Emma L

Emma L. is a student who has taken her passion for code back to her school. She is leader of the code club at Brearley, as well as being an amazing soccer player. I caught up with her to hear about her experience learning to code and building apps.

Why do you code?

Coding allows me to build what I want, how I want, independently or collectively. In the last three years I’ve learned HTML, CSS, Ruby, and JavaScript. Before I started to code I assumed that going to classes would be like going to school, but it’s not, it’s so much better. Technology is a part of every day and every industry; and learning to code allows me to build things I love.

How has the code you learned helped you at school?

Recently I had a project at school in which a partner and I had to ‘pitch’ a company. We could do whatever we needed to in order to convince the teacher and our classmates to invest in our idea. While brainstorming, we decided that the best choice would be to build a static website to demonstrate to “the investors” what it was we were building. Although I had never had the confidence to build something by myself, I picked up my computer, put my mind to it, and built something that I’m extremely proud of.

What are your big takeaways about learning these skills?

As a girl learning to code it can sometimes be intimidating, but that’s quickly changing. I’ve gained much more confidence and a real skill that will help me when I graduate high school, college and eventually have a job. This experience has also given me the opportunity to work with new people and make new friends. I love learning about and meeting people doing incredible, innovative things with technology.

How have you connected coding to your real life?

I have been able to weld my interests of soccer and coding through a World Cup app (I’m really into soccer!), entrepreneurship and coding through my company, and communication and coding through a group chat site I created with friends.