“The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
During the week of August 17th – 21st, Member of Parliament, the Honourable Mr. José Vanterpool, partnered with Mr. Gino Webster, of Thoughtful Digital Agency, to facilitate a one-week introduction to coding and app building class as part of the Department of Youth and Culture’s Summer Youth E.S.C.A.P.E. Programme.
The preceding quote is one of Mr. Vanterpool’s favourites as, in his words, “it embodies the message that success is achieved by those who are willing to go the extra mile and put in the work in order to attain it.”
In an effort to enshrine this principle in the students who participated in the course, the facilitators, Mr. Vanterpool and Mr. Webster decided to host a secret competition among the students during the course of the week. At the beginning of the first session, the facilitators required all students sign up to www.freecodecamp.org – a website that provides free certifications and tutorials about computer programming otherwise known as ‘coding’. The students were told about careers in coding and the benefits of completing the free certifications. They were encouraged several times throughout the week to log on to the website and complete the exercises in their free time at home, but they were never required or forced to do so.
Moments before the certificate presentation ceremony, which marked the completion of the one-week coding camp, students were asked to log onto the website and show what progress they had made towards completing the exercises. The atmosphere and energy of the room changed when Mr. Vanterpool announced that they would be rewarding the 3 students who made the furthest progress on Free Code Camp with cash prizes.
Students: Sage Alfred and Jo’Ardie Richardson were tied – and had to race to see who would be first to complete their current challenge in order to claim 2nd place. In the end, Sage Alfred claimed the prize of $20 US dollars for third place with Jo’Ardie Richardson receiving $30 US dollars for second. The first place winner of the competition was Alysha Carty who received $50 for her hard work and effort.
Mr. Vanterpool and Mr. Webster, who sponsored the prizes, used this moment to encourage the students that:
1. time spent working on their personal development will always pay off in the end – sometimes in unexpected ways.
2. those who get ahead and succeed in life are those who are willing to put in the work when others aren’t.
– Contributed
