Class II Coding Breakfast

November 2, 2021—Class II Coding met in the dining room for a very special “coding breakfast.” Over the course of two months, students across two classes—taught by Ms. Labieniec and Ms. Uhre-Balk—built video games. For students, the coding breakfast was an opportunity to have someone else play their game. Before play opened up, the students arranged computers around the dining room tables and then broke into two groups—gamers and game makers.

“Is this a Harry Potter game?” asked one student. Exclamations continued as game makers watched gamers try out their hard work. In one game, players were a cookie and had to dodge raisins in level one, then spikes in level two. “I don’t like raisins in my cookies,” said Daniela Antras ’28, “chocolate chip cookies are my favorite.” Gamers controlled the cookie using arrows and the space bar.

“Look at this code!” exclaimed Ms. Labieniec, scrolling through pages of source code. “The students did all that themselves.” Eventually the groups switched roles so that everyone had a chance to play a game, and watch their game be played.

Students who have finished a coding course may want to try their hand at the Code Yourself Challenge, which is a national contest for female-identifying and non-binary students. Interested students should email Ms. Uhre-Balk or Ms. Labieniec should they wish to submit an entry.