Avery Berkowitz, the 9th grade algebra teacher who is also the head of the after school coding club, has been able to keep the club alive for over a year without the school’s support.

The coding club has managed to continue thanks to its passionate students who attend every Monday after school who are also willing to pay for the club’s virtual courses in order to continue developing their coding skills. Avery Berkowitz alongside his coding students have kept the club growing without any economical support from the school. This article will explain how the coding club has managed to survive for so long as well as the benefits learning coding can bring.

“We have six members who have been coming every week for a year now,” Avery Berkowitz, 9th grade algebra teacher and coding club teacher, said.

The coding club began a few years ago when some students shared a common interest in coding with Berkowitz, but only recently the club opened its doors for everyone. The club started out with the students investing 30 thousand pesos in order to buy an online coding course, but new members won’t have to pay anything as the club already owns the courses. The club is an after school space only available in Mondays after school, open to anyone in high school who wishes to learn or improve their coding skills. You may enter the club by contacting Berkowitz.

“A couple of years ago, a couple of my students expressed some interest in web development and I was also interested in it. So we all met up once a week for the last year and a half and worked on a coding course we found online,” Berkowitz said.

“For the course itself it was about 40 thousand pesos, but it’s usually on a discount, so it was 30 thousand pesos at the time. The course was worth it as it’s a very long course and it’s very specific,” Pedro Velasquez, 11th grade student and club member, said.

The coding club’s main goal at the moment is to work on developing the coding skills of it’s few participants, but the club has greater goals they wish to tackle in the future. Some of these goals are to design a webpage from the ground up and a carbon footprint calculator which can be used by GIN.

“The main goal is to allow the students that are involved to explore a popular career field and  also be creative and pursue an interest they all share,” Berkowitz said.

“To produce our final product for our carbon footprint calculator that can be used by GIN and can be a useful tool for other people that don’t work or go to school here,” Berkowitz said.

Learning coding can be beneficial for anyone, especially in high school. Because communication and development in the modern world is ruled by technology, knowing how to program can be helpful in creating opportunities for students. Learning coding can be a profitable investment as anyone can learn coding completely free in the internet. Unlike school grades, coding is not based on how much you know, but how much you can do. For this reason, students can be offered contracts outside of school which can produce a lot of income.

“Its one of the few fields where they don’t look for your university degree, they just care about what you can make,” Berkowitz said.

“This skill translates to a lot of the higher paying technology roles out there,” Berkowitz said.

“It’s a marketable skill right from of the start and web developing is high on demand as we are on the internet age,” Velasquez said.

The coding club is currently facing some challenges. Because the club lacks popularity and new interest, the club is limited to a few number of students. For this reason, the school won’t recognize the club as an official after school activity and won’t provide financial support. Another issue the club is facing is how frequently they can meet, as Berkowitz can’t attend every Monday due to his job as a teacher and his personal life. For this reason, the club is trying to get a sponsor and someone who could replace Berkowitz when he is not available in order to increase the consistency of their reunions.

“We are right now an informal club, and with my teaching responsibilities and personal life it’s hard for me to be the one who stays after school. So we would need to find a sponsor who can stay after school,” Berkowitz said.

Although the school isn’t funding the club, Berkowitz stated that the club is doing fine and requires no financial support from the school as they are not yet an official club. Because the club is still relatively small, there are only few expenses the club must cover.

“We don’t have any financial needs at the moment. That’s the main reason why I haven’t sought out funding,” Berkowitz said.