CODE WRITE DRAW

By Sheryl Young (San Mateo County Program Director) and Savannah Lira (Program and Communications Associate)

Earlier this summer, PVF made a site visit to CODE WRITE DRAW, a new nonprofit project in Solano County, founded by Deanna Terzian, President of the social enterprise TutorWorks Academic Services.

Through a 4-week video game design and novella writing program, CODE WRITE DRAW offers tangible STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) skills through three hour-long daily classes to 45 underserved middle school students.

Deanna invited our staff to tag along on a typical day for the students and observe their skills in action!

In Novella Writing, we listened to these youth paint stories of superheroes on epic journeys. In Manga Art, they learned how to bring these stories to life with their own illustrations.

Finally, the students design and code their own video games using a visual program. The intuitive, industry standard coding platform serves as base to build future coding skills and work towards larger career opportunities.

Staffed by credentialed teachers, teacher candidates and para-professional staff, CODE WRITE DRAW’s program design builds on TutorWorks’ demonstated track record preparing students at all levels to succeed. Each student receives 76 total hours of STEAM-related instruction, including coding, math facts quizzes, Manga art instruction and creative writing.

CODE WRITE DRAW is designed to culminate in a final product – a published book of their own writing and artwork that each student can take home and an exhibition where the students can present their completed work to industry expert judges and family.

CODE WRITE DRAW’s successful program is exactly the kind of innovation we love at PVF! We can’t wait to see the great things they will achieve as they expand into San Mateo County.