L-R Tobi Akinloye Instructor, Osas Osaigbovo Community Manager, Olufunke Akinloye Founder, Toosin Adesanya Project Manager, Funto Olanipekun Instructor at the Closing Ceremony of Code Zone 2023 in Lagos.
Code Zone 2023 has successfully come to an end amidst commendations and accolades from parent, participants and other stakeholders. This fifth edition of the annual summer coding program which commenced in 2019 and holds every August was themed Coding for Sustainability, the objective was to drive the consciousness of sustainability in the everyday lives of the participants, this can be said to have been met.
Code Zone 2023 ran through the month of August 2023, with both virtual and in-person classes holding every weekday for the one month. The program had thirty-one participants of it target audience being Teenagers and Pre-Teens enroll in in the available programs i.e. HTML/CSS, JavaScript and UIUX.
As a standard practice, participants after the intensive period of learning these new skills exhibited their knowledge by presenting their projects in their areas of interest, this varied from Sports, Fashion, Entertainment, to love for Dogs, Games, Music, Gadgets and so on. It’s been an amazing journey indeed.
The Founder Mrs Olufunke Akinloye at the closing presentation talked about why Code Zone was started and the reason for having this year Themed Coding for Sustainability. ‘We are glad to be consistently achieving the objective of starting Code Zone which is to upskill Teenagers and Pre Teens with tech knowledge so that they can be active participants in the world they are growing into.’
Olufunke further said ‘The participants did not only learn tech stills this one month, we are glad to say they got enlightened on the general idea of Sustainability i.e. making the world last longer and livable for generations after them. They got more understanding on the three Rs Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and the need to consider it before items are condemned as waste. Each participant had to create a mandatory Sustainability page as part of their project.
Mr. Eniola Ilesanmi, a parent of 2 participants in the Program said ‘I am awed at the amount of learning my children have been exposed to during this program. The enthusiasm the children display every morning waking up early to endure they don’t miss class despite being holiday period gives me great joy and is testament to the Value the program delivered to its participants. My children became Zoom experts overnight alongside the coding skills they acquired. I am very glad to have been a part of it and I am already looking forward to the next edition.
Mrs. Maria Akinfe, another parent and guardian of 8 participants said ‘I am glad my children and their friends were able to enroll for Code Zone this year. I am a returning parent as my children have participated in a previous edition so I have assurance that their time will be well spent. The additional value of exposing them to the concept of sustainability is what amazed me. So the children did not only leave the program with coding skills but a decision to Reduce, Reuse or Recycle Items which as a parent I intend to give them my utmost support’.
Code Zone 2023 as an initiative of an African Woman, got some support from the JAMII Femmes, an initiative of Coca Cola Foundation and Women in Africa to support African Women Entrepreneurs for sustainable impact. The entire team of Code Zone express gratitude for the support.
