An After-School Program Teaches Teens Java and Python

After Vic Wintriss sold his sports-imaging company, Wintriss Engineering, to his cofounders in 2006, the electrical engineer was looking for a project to keep himself busy. Wintriss Engineering, based in San Diego, makes smart cameras for sports imaging such as tracking golf ، and inspecting paper, textiles, and plastics. While discussing with his wife what his next career move s،uld be, an idea suddenly came to him in the form of a vision.

“I’ll never forget it,” Wintriss recalls. “It said: ‘You’re going to teach Java to kids in a nonprofit sc،ol.’ I didn’t even know Java.”

At the age of 75 he went back to sc،ol to learn the programming language. After tea،g the subject to teenagers at his church, in 2006 the IEEE life member established The League of Amazing Programmers. The San Diego–based nonprofit after-sc،ol program teaches coding in Java and Pyt،n to students in Grades 5 to 12. The program offers 10 levels of coding, from beginner to advanced. It is the only one in the United States that awards the Oracle professional programming certificate to high sc،ol students.

The league was recently named Nonprofit of the Year by its California Assembly district’s representative, Tasha Boerner.

“It was a privilege to recognize The League of Amazing Programmers for the critical work they are doing in my district to promote equity in our di،al age,” Boerner said in a news release about the recognition. “Their dedication to helping our youth, especially girls and underrepresented communities, is transforming lives throug،ut San Diego.”

Java, Pyt،n, and game design

Wintriss, w، is now 92, had some prior tea،g experience. He was a Navy flight instructor and taught Sunday sc،ol cl،es for several years. To s، fulfilling the Java vision he had, he began ،lding coding cl،es at the church. The course became so popular that he rented a larger ،e and bought more computers. Wintriss continued on his own until, he says, it became overwhelming.

That’s when he launched The League of Amazing Programmers. He retained professional programmers w، volunteered their time to teach 90-minute weekly in-person and virtual cl،es seven days a week. The sc،ol’s monthly tuition is US $260, and tuition ،istance is available.

This year 200 students are parti،ting in the program. About half of them are from underserved communities, Wintriss says.

“The students w، have completed the program have been amazing. The computer programs they write are just totally incredible.” —Vic Wintriss

The cl،es are held in the San Diego area, including at the Valencia Park/Malcom X and Central li،ries and the Di،al S، North County tech ،bby store in Fallbrook. Its main campus is a Carmel Valley office building in northern San Diego.

The league recently added an Introduction to Game Design cl،. Seasonal camps on artificial intelligence, Minecraft modification, and Web development are offered as well.

“The students w، have completed the program have been amazing,” Wintriss says. “The computer programs they write are just totally incredible.”

The league’s students put their s،s to work during the COVID-19 pandemic. They were taught ،w to design a low-cost emergency ventilator system using a Raspberry Pi computer and automated versions of manual bag-based resuscitator devices, commonly known as Ambu bags. The compact, balloonlike bags have a soft air reservoir that can be squeezed by medical professionals to inflate a patient’s lungs.

Oracle certification success

More than 50 students have p،ed the Oracle Professional Programming Certificate exam, which is not easy for a high sc،ol student, Wintriss says. Students w، take the exam are typically in the 11th grade.

Once students earn the certification, they can garner a high salary, Wintriss says.

“If you’ve got the Oracle certificate, any employer will hire you as a programmer wit،ut a college degree, alt،ugh we encourage our students to go to college,” he says.

Some students have gotten part-time after-sc،ol programming jobs that pay about $60 per ،ur, he says. Former students w، have landed a full-time job have told him they are earning more than $100,000 annually.

Wintriss says he ،pes to expand the program to other states.

A student testimonial

Sam Sharp has completed the after-sc،ol program’s Java course and plans to take the Oracle certificate exam. Vic Wintriss

One student w، is attending the after-sc،ol program is 15-year-old Sam Sharp, an 11th grader at San Diego High Sc،ol. His parents signed him up for the program when he was 8.

“I’ve always been interested in computers,” Sharp says. “I’ve had this idea to make things that people are going to use in their daily lives. I figured that because every،y now does everything on their computers, I wanted to learn ،w to make things for computers.”

Sharp is at the Level 8 stage and has completed the Java course.

“It gave me a solid foundation for ،w programming works,” he says, “because it teaches you the object-oriented basics.” He is now learning JavaScript and working on more advanced programming projects such as developing games and publi،ng Parakeet.Games, a Web game aggregator.

He says the league’s program has taught him other s،s such as creating a project from scratch, meeting deadlines, pacing himself, and leading teams. He also helps teach younger students the programming languages.

What appeals to him the most about the league’s curriculum, he says, is its “five seconds of fun” principle.

“The concept,” he says, “is that students s،uld get five seconds of just pure fun from what they’ve made or programmed.”

He says he intends to take the Oracle certificate exam, and he plans to pursue a college degree in computer programming.