What's your goal for programming?
Programming is a crucial skill for today's teens to thrive in the future. No matter if you just want to try, or enjoy serious competitions, or need help with AP CS, you can start right now right here! Our mission is to provide a ladder for teens to learn computer science step by step and develop themselves into leaders of technology. See all courses and 2019-2020 schedules below!
-
Introduction to Java Programming. Designed for 6+ graders, this course is a starting point and teaches the fundamentals of Java programming. It's tailored for beginners by removing object-oriented principles and adding plenty of examples and hands-on practice. After this course, students will be able to code in Java using correct flow controls and arrays. This course also serves as the foundation (part 1) of AP CS A.
-
ACSL Contest Prep. Also designed for 6+ graders, this course trains students for the four ACSL local contests throughout a year. ACSL stands for American Computer Science League, an international computer science competition that has more than 40 years of history. By competing in this beginner friendly contest with our team, students will not only sharpen coding skills, but also learn advanced computer science topics such as Data Structure and Graph Theory. If our team accumulates good scores in local contests, we will be invited to the international level all-star contest which happens on every Memorial Day weekend.
-
AP CS A. For 9+ graders. If students had completed "Introduction to Java Programming" (above, i.e. part 1 of AP CS A) and participated in ACSL, they had gained plenty of valuable coding experience. This allows them to breeze through object-oriented principles, i.e. part 2 of AP CS A in fall of 9th grade. For students who have no experience, taking part 1 in summer before 9th grade then part 2 in fall, or both part 1 and part 2 in fall (hard!!) may still get a satisfying AP score, especially after our preparation course (Part 3) in spring.
-
USACO Bronze. For 8+ graders who wish to pursue competitive programming, this is ideal. Even though there are not prerequisites to participate in USACO Bronze, our experience indicates that students who excel in ACSL contests will advance much quickly and easily through USACO levels, because they are well trained on input/output processing, data structures and fundamental algorithms such as recursion. This program runs from September through March to warm up students for the 4 USACO Bronze contests in December through March. Our mentors will walk students through previous contest problems so they can see various algorithms and data structures in play.
-
USACO Silver. For USACO Bronze achiever, this program will run from September through March to prepare students for upcoming USACO Silver contests in Dec - Mar. Because our mentors will be working on the same contest at higher levels themselves, they can discuss problems with students in great depth, offer tips and support based on first-hand experience. Students will learn many advanced algorithms and debugging techniques from our mentors through their step by step demonstrations. Armed with valuable tips and strategies, they can improve drastically.
-
Be a LoL Mentor. Legion of Learners (LoL) is a student run nonprofit organization and a Presidential Volunteer Award certifying organization. We understand teens learn best from role models. Just like our mentors, any student with in-depth coding knowledge and experience can apply to be a LoL mentor* and start teaching peers online! We will providing teaching contents and training. Take a step further to use what you have learnt and get your contribution recognized by winning Presidential Volunteer Award!
-------------------------
* Approval from LoL executive team is required.
** Semi private courses led by LoL mentors or adult instructors are both available.
