Summer Youth Coding Bootcamp

Students will learn the importance of computing technologies through hands-on crafts that require tedious fabrication processes, before shifting focus to using a computing platform for visualizing object geometries. Students will get to physically build a 3D fractal, before learning the basics of Python coding to program their own fractals. These Python basics will be further developed by exploring machine learning concepts through gaming. Students will begin by coding an agent that will play against another computer player in the very first video game ever designed (arcade Pong). Other reinforcement learning algorithms will be utilized on games like Tetris and Tanks, where students will get to pit their algorithms in competition with each other! 

The Intermediate Cohort will meet from 10am to 12:00pm and the Beginner cohort will meet from 12:30am to 2:30pm.  Lunch will be provided each day of the program and students who are able to complete the program with satisfactory attendance of at least 14 out of the 16 program meeting days in-person (Virtual option will be available to accomodate emergencies) will be awarded a bonus of a $100 amazon gift card for putting in the work! 

AVELA Student Instructors: 

Kyle Johnson - A co-founder of AVELA and the Black Grad Student Association at UW is a second year Ph.D. student in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington (UW) researching insect-scale and battery-free robots. Kyle is also contracted by NASA as a machine learning expert, where he works on tuning an algorithm that can accurately predict the Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) of carbon in the atmosphere.

Vicente Arroyos - A co-founder of AVELA  is a second year Ph.D. student in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington (UW). He works in the Mobile Systems Lab and in the Autonomous Insect Robotics Lab.

Lebamlak (Lebam) Amare - A 4th year undergraduate student in the Computer Science & Engineering program at the University of Washington(UW). He is an Ethiopian-American who has spent roughly half his life in Ethiopia and half in the United States.

Daniel Sanchez -  A current first year undergrad student pursuing a bachelors in Computer Science at the University of Washington.

A Vision for Electronic Literacy & Access (AVELA) is a group of underrepresented minority students at the University of Washington who are passionate about bridging the opportunity gaps currently present in the public education system. We accomplish this goal by creating and leading workshops, camps, panels, and other forms of community outreach that allow our university members to share their experiences with colleges and industries, as well as their technical expertise, with younger underrepresented minority students.