This January 18th, join TCS for a special one-day virtual coding event in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Coders will embark on cool STEM explorations and coding challenges as well as games, activities, and more. Plus, we’ve planned something special.

To honor the Civil Rights leader’s life and legacy, our thoughts around this holiday are imbued with how we can help spread the love and humanity that connects us all. Just as we work to create inclusive and supportive learning environments for each of our coders, we encourage all of our students to be agents of positive social change in their communities and beyond. 

To celebrate their impact, every camper who has a plan in place to do an act of service by the start of camp on January 18th will receive a $10 credit towards a future class or camp. Just reply to your registration confirmation email with a description of what your child will do to help someone else and the credit will be applied to your account.
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Not sure where to start? Here are some suggested activities:

• Donate clothes
• Plant a tree
• Donate used/unwanted toys
• Give books to local hospitals or daycare
• Start a school recycling program
• Hold a collection drive
• Make handmade cards
• Do chores or work for neighbors

The possibilities are truly endless. We hope your child will take advantage of this opportunity and share with us in class how they’ve decided to honor MLK Jr.’s legacy on this important day. 

Not signed up for our MLK Jr. Mini Camp yet? Register here. ​

Three cheers for our creative coders! Our C4C: Kids Teaching Kids participants have completed and submitted their programming projects, the votes have been cast, and the results have been tallied. Now, it's time to tune in for the finale event where we reveal the winners in these categories:

• Best Visual Design
• Best Sound Design
• Best Game Design
• Most Educational
• Most Imaginative
• Best Scratch Project
• Best WoofJS Project
• Coders' Choice

Oh, and did we mention there will be prizes? Each category winner will receive a donation of $50 to DonorsChoose to support the classroom of their choice. All projects will be featured on the TCS website and qualifying projects will be shared with participating early elementary classes.

Ready to join us? The finale will be streamed live across several platforms on Sunday, December 13th starting at 3pm EST. You can watch by clicking on the links below:

• YouTube
• Twitch
• Facebook

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​We hope you’ll join us in acknowledging and celebrating the hard work of all our students and their creativity in devising solutions to problems facing kids just like them. Their generosity of spirit sets an excellent example for us all!

Thanks so much for being willing to chat with us, Brenda! How did you get involved with 7 Cups?
Thanks for having me! I technically started volunteering with 7 Cups in July of 2015, but I really gave more time starting in March 2020—about 146 hours! I started as a listener and gradually gained more roles. I became an intern and eventually a mentor to other listeners. I now lead discussions and moderate group chats, too.

Why is volunteering important to you?
I feel fulfilled when I’m interacting with other people and I care deeply about their wellbeing. I’ve been lucky to have the support of so many friends and family, and volunteering allows me to pay some of that kindness forward. Volunteering also lets me focus on doing something that I enjoy and helps others without the added stress of money or performance reviews. I find that getting to be myself sometimes lets me do my best work.

What have you learned about yourself in doing this work?
Regarding 7 Cups specifically, I have gained further confidence in myself and my decision to become a therapist. I was initially nonplussed by their rule to not give advice. If a member reached out to me with an issue, I instinctively wanted to help them solve it. Instead, by listening, empathizing, and reflecting, I am learning how to support someone without taking any power away from them.

As a teacher, how do you think students and young people could benefit from volunteering?
Volunteering can help you build a skill, allow you to contribute to a community you care about, give you an opportunity to meet new friends, and feel fulfilled. It can even boost your own mental health because giving can make us happier than receiving. I hope young people definitely consider volunteering!

How can others become involved with 7 Cups?
Joining the community of 7 Cups is the easiest! You can even give back as a member. Becoming a listener requires a little more training, but it's still easy to sign up. You can do so here. 

Anything else you'd like to add?
Yes, I’d just like to share this quote: "Volunteers don't get paid, not because they're worthless, but because they're priceless." —Sherry Anderson

With Code 4 Change: Kids Teaching Kids rounding the halfway mark, we wanted to take a moment to check in with our coders. Participants of all ages and skill levels are hard at work coding their Kids Teaching Kids projects, which are aimed at helping early elementary learners understand important academic concepts through engaging games, projects, and presentations. But what inspires them to give back and why are they excited to help? We asked them, and here's how they answered:

That makes sense. But what makes an achievement gong-worthy?
While finishing a project, mastering a tricky skill, or squashing a particularly difficult bug are all good examples, ultimately it’s up to each student to decide whether they think a particular achievement is worthy of a gong ring. That said, even our youngest students quickly understand that if they ring the gong for something that really wasn’t a major achievement, it won’t feel as awesome. This is one way we teach students to take agency over their own learning and celebrate self-motivated accomplishment.

But why a gong? How did it all start?
Legend has it that it was hidden deep in a crater on a mountain top, guarded by grizzled coders of old, and gifted to the very first TCS student…

Wait, really?
...No. In all honesty, the gong predates me, so I honestly have no idea where it came from or how it started! I guess you could say that the origins of the gong are lost to time. 

Any last words on the importance of the TCS gong?
The Coding Space gong is just one of the many small ways that we create a positive, fun, and self-motivated learning environment for our students. While not all students will engage with gong ringing for motivation and commemoration of achievement, for students that do, it’s a great way to celebrate and acknowledge the skills we value most: grit, determination, creativity, and a growth mindset. And it sure is fun to ring!

To learn more about the TCS teaching philosophy, click here. And for information on our gong-friendly Fall classes, be sure to check out our full semester lineup. ​