From a first hackathon to teaching.
My path with Coding in Color: learning to build, returning as a volunteer, and helping other people find their way into computing.
- Organization
- Coding in Color
- My role
- Instructor
- Discipline
- Computing education
- Status
- Ongoing instruction
Creating room to begin.
Coding in Color works to widen access to computing education in Arizona. Its programs introduce learners to computer science and AI, including students who have fewer opportunities to explore those subjects at school.
That is the setting for my path from participant to volunteer and instructor.
A first win. A reason to return.
My first Coding in Color hackathon ended with a win. In a 2023 ABC15 interview, I described how that experience gave me confidence to keep pursuing computing.
Afterward, I asked to come back as a volunteer. I wanted to keep learning to code while helping other students get an opportunity to begin.
On the other side of the classroom.
Volunteering became a longer involvement. Phoenix College’s January 2026 feature describes how I joined as a high-school student, continued volunteering, and later became a part-time staff member.
That feature also includes me alongside Coding in Color staff at an Introduction to AI presentation during Day of Compute. Coding in Color’s team page now lists me as an instructor.
The role has changed along the way: from getting a first experience with code to helping create that experience for other learners.
Sources & further reading.
The published accounts behind this note, in their original context.