17th June 2016
Share your skills with the next generation
At Code Club, we’re always grateful for the enthusiasm and passion of our volunteers. Marc Grossman is one of our volunteers who has been with us since the very start, and his dedication to helping children in London learn coding skills always amazes us.
We asked Marc to tell us a bit about his experiences with Code Club, and what benefits he gets from volunteering:
What inspired you to volunteer for Code Club?
It all started with an email from my head teacher. For six years I had already been doing regular lunchtime and after school computer clubs. I loved the idea of concentrating on doing solely programming, as I had so much fun doing it when I was younger.
Tell us as a bit about your Code Club
We’ve been going for nearly four years now. Just once a term as I do other computer based clubs with different year groups. It’s just me with a group of twelve to sixteen young people usually from year groups 5 and 6. Our school is lucky as we have a computer suite with 30 PCs. We started off with the initial pilot projects such as Felix and Herbert and Fireworks. These days we have newer projects such as Rock Band, Lost In Space and ChatBot. We don’t do just Scratch, but also HTML and CSS too.
What would you say are the benefits of volunteering for Code Club?
It’s a wonderful opportunity to share skills and knowledge with young people. No two sessions are ever the same. It’s great to see what can be done with someone’s code and then to find ways to extend what has been produced so far. Although they start with the same project they all develop their own unique version by the end!
How does volunteering fit into your schedule?
I only work part time so I finish at lunchtime two days a week. This has given me the opportunity to go and do clubs at other schools. At my own school staff are very much encouraged to run a club where they can.
What has been your best ‘Code Club moment’?
My best moment recently was when doing the HTML/CSS projects with a group of SEN students at a college. They asked if they could include a YouTube video in their web pages. I showed them how to embed the video clips on their own web pages.
Why is Code Club important to you?
Code Club is important to me because it’s a great environment to just play. There’s nothing too formal. It’s just a club where young people can explore and experiment. The Code Club projects are a great starting point, letting young people create whatever they want to, once they have got the basics under their belt.
Want to share your volunteering experience with Code Club? Get in touch by emailing hello@codeclub.org.uk