Capital One Coders gives middle school students a look at software development

Capital One awarded $10,000 in STEM education grants to four Fairfax County public schools.

On May 17, students from Holmes Middle School in Alexandria, Key Middle School in Springfield, Herndon Middle School and Cedar Lane High School in Vienna went to the financial giant’s McLean, Va. headquarters to demo new apps.

It was an event to cap Capital One Coders, a 10-week program bringing STEM education to sixth, seventh and eighth grade students. The program has expanded from two schools in 2014 to now 75 schools and nonprofits around the country.

Students are taught to work together and solve problems in teams, and learn the basic principles of software development from Capital One volunteers. They also get the chance to create mobile apps using the MIT App Inventor. It’s an introduction to tech jobs.

“The impact of technology and innovation on our economy and in our daily lives is undeniable,” said Erika Dean, Senior Director for Information Security at Capital One.

“We created the program to help middle school students develop a greater interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics during this critical period in their education,” said Dean.

Throughout the country, around 9,000 students have gone through the Capital One Coders program over the past four years, assisted by a team of nearly 2,500 volunteers who work one-on-one with the students to teach them how to code.

Erika Dean and Rajiv Sondhi, Vice President of Software Engineering at Capital One, with students demonstrating their apps. (Photo courtesy of Capital One)

Capital One plans on awarding $170,000 as part of seventeen continuation grants across the program.

The program exists as part of Capital One’s Future Edge initiative, designed to bring small business development, and financial and digital literacy to help overcome the skills gap facing the current and future labor market. Through that program, $150 million in community grants will be awarded over five years as part of the initiative to help Americans gain the knowledge they will need to be successful in the 21st century.