EDMONTON – A young Edmonton student has moved to the front of the class, becoming the teacher at a local elementary school.
Twelve-year-old Tadeo Kondrak isn’t teaching math or science, though, he’s started his own after-school computer coding club.
“We are building websites,” said Kondrak. “It’s really actually pretty easy.”
Perhaps it’s easy for him; the son of a computer science professor, Kondrak taught himself the skill by using resources on the Internet.
“It’s pretty much telling the computer what you want it to do. Or in the case of websites, telling the computer what you want it to display.”
Kondrak, with the help of a computer programmer, teaches his coding class at St. Basil Catholic School once a week. But in order to become the teacher, he had some work to do first.
“Catch up on my assignments,” he said.
Passionate about coding, Kondrak approached the school’s success coach, Tyler Austring, about the possibility of starting a club. Austring was happy to see Kondrak taking such an interest in the subject, so took the idea to the school principal.
“The principal said ‘Well, if he’s doing well in his classes and he comes to me with a proposal, then I’ll consider it,'” Austring explained.
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So the 12-year-old put together a PowerPoint presentation and made his case. After getting the go-ahead, Kondrak then had to make his presentation to his fellow students to see if there was interest.
“Public speaking isn’t exactly at the top of his list of things he like’s to do, but he was willing to go to all the classes and stand up there and promote the coding club,” said Austring.
And his bravery paid off. Kondrak now has about a dozen pupils in his class who are all eager to learn the skill.
“I thought it would be pretty cool because I wanted to learn how people actually create and make games and websites,” said 11-year-old Szczepan Lachowicz.
“I’ve always wanted to learn all this computer stuff and I’ve always wanted to make my own website,” added 11-year-old Maya Urwimanzi. “I think it’s unique because not many schools have this and not many people learn how to do code.”
“Everyone is calling for you so it’s kind of hard, but I like it,” Kondrak said of taking on the role of teacher.
Austring is extremely proud of the initiative Kondrak has taken, and says the dedication he’s brought to the coding club has started to show in his other school work, as well.
“It’s exciting to see him really passionate about something. This is what he loves to do and he’s bringing others into it,” said Austring. “It’s exciting when you say to someone ‘Yeah, if you’re passionate about this, let’s see what we can do.’ And you see them really take hold of it.”
With files from Quinn Ohler, Global News.
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