In 2012, our founders noticed that many schools weren’t offering coding classes and students weren’t getting exposure to tech careers. So they started a class in a high school in New York City and enlisted a few volunteers with web development skills to teach it. Together, they decided to call that class ScriptEd.
Today, we have a lot more volunteers, and reach a lot more students, and the name we came up with for our first coding class didn’t seem to fit anymore. So we changed our name to Code Nation.
Why now?
This year, we reach 1,500 students per year in 46 high schools in 3 cities. And we have a community of over 300 volunteers from over 200 companies. Our community is growing quickly, and our programs are stronger than ever. Not only do our students get exposure to tech careers, they gain the skills, experiences and connections they need to start tech careers. 73% of our alumni are majoring in computer science or a related field in college or currently employed in tech.
Why Code Nation?
We worked with the branding agency Athletics NYC to develop our new brand through a comprehensive research and design process that generated 200 ideas for names. We collected feedback on our new name and brand identity from 100 members of our community through interviews, focus groups and surveys. We wanted a name that represented our community’s growth and impact, and could serve as a rallying cry for teenagers, technologists, teachers, business leaders, and all the other believers. Our community spans cities, cultures and industries. We’re building bridges across social and economic divides and uniting people with the power to change each other’s lives. Code Nation is the only name big enough for us.
What’s next?
As Code Nation, our mission hasn’t changed, and we will continue to grow and reach more students in new and current cities. Chicago will be the next new region to launch Code Nation programs, with plans underway for a pilot in the 2019-2020 school year. We launched our first programs in the Bay Area only two years ago, and now our community reaches more than 300 students in 14 schools across San Francisco and Oakland. With our growth in the Bay Area and New York City, we’re a team of 35 now, and we can’t wait to welcome new team members, volunteers and partners in Chicago and beyond.
This is only the beginning. Our alumni are joining the workforce with competitive skills, work experience and professional connections in a fast-growing and highly-paid career field. The collective force of their rise in tech can change the economic futures of communities – even whole cities. And as the next generation of tech leaders, Code Nation alumni will carry on the work of building a more inclusive industry, and their diverse perspectives will foster innovation that better serves our world.
We are grateful to every member of our community who participated in this process, and celebrated with us in New York City at the UnscriptEd benefit on October 16. We look forward to celebrating with our Bay Area community on December 4 – RSVP here!
