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Dating back to when Payworks first launched its Pay it Forward Day in late 2015, one of the very first charitable organizations that our staff chose to support was Hour of Code. Since that time, over the years Hour of Code has proved to be one of the more popular ways that members of our Development Team have chosen to spend their paid day off to volunteer – by spending the day at a local elementary school teaching students computer science and the art of coding.
The Hour of Code program gives students the chance to work with a variety of different tools within computer science which are specifically tailored towards their age group. There are a number of one-hour tutorials that are designed for all ages and in a multitude of languages.
Systems Developer Lauren Himbeault was the first Payworks staff to use her Pay it Forward Day for Hour of Code – in December of 2015 when she visited a Grade 6 class. Prior to this she had been involved with Hour of Code for approximately three years. Since that time she has easily persuaded more and more of her co-workers to cash in their day for the initiative as well. In total she has organized three separate Hours of Code sessions and invited other Payworks Developers to cash in their Pay it Forward Day.
“It’s always a ton of fun and the kids always really enjoy it. I’ve had students approach me after the program and say, thank you now I want to become a computer scientist, which is super cute,” said Lauren. “We’re lucky to work for a company that sees the true value in investing in our community in a variety of ways. I think everyone should be taking their chance to give back in whatever way they hold near and dear to their hearts.”
“Hour of Code allows me to share my love of programming,” said Systems Developer, Brent Rempel. “There’s a lot of valuable lessons to be learned from programming, such as critical thinking and problem solving, that can be utilized in everyday activities. Hour of Code is a great way to show kids that programming is not incomprehensible and it can be a lot of fun.”
For the past year Lauren has been on maternity leave but her advocacy for the Hour of Code program is still running strong amidst her department. Her co-workers are still using their Pay it Forward Day to give back and help grade school students learn code. Most recently, there was a group of three Payworks staff who spent the morning at Winnipeg Mennonite Elementary Middle School teaching Grade 2-4 students the basics of writing code using the Hour of Code lessons.
“It’s really important to increase computer literacy, especially at an early age,” said Systems Developer Ezra Lazar, who was one of the staff who volunteered January 17, 2019. “With the current high-tech lifestyles it’s important to have a basic understanding of how the devices we use every day ‘think’ so that when these devices don’t work we can understand why. Inspiring children to start learning about how computers work can help them begin to understand our tech-driven world in a new way.”
Volunteering their time alongside Ezra was Systems Developer David Peddle and Technical Lead, Development Janice Gross.
“With computer technology so prevalent in our culture I think it’s important to expose kids to coding and tech careers at an early age and make them aware of the possibilities,” said Janice who has used her Pay it Forward Day three times for Hour of Code. “It’s fascinating to see the students working through the different coding concepts and it’s also interesting to see the progression of learning from Grade 2 through Grade 4 class. The students are always excited to learn and are always somewhat disappointed when the class is over.”
In total there has been 14 Payworks staff who have used their Pay it Forward Day in order to participate in Hour of Code and there has been a few of those staff members who have volunteered on more than one occasion. Past participants include Systems Developers Lauren Himbeault, Mike Sims, Brent Rempel, Kyle Leung, Ethan Fedeniuk, Ezra Lazar, David Peddle, Josh Kradinac, Ryan Koop, Jon Melven, as well as Technical Lead, Development Janice Gross and Dale Brajczuk.
