Springfield Code Ninjas location builds skills beyond the keyboard

A student works on a “sprite” alongside a sensei at Code Ninjas.
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen

SPRINGFIELD — Six students, ranging in age from about 9 to 14 years old, sat in front of desktop computers, typing in commands.

They flicked between a screen full of code and one which displayed a simple group of pixels. The goal of the coding session was to make the “sprites” on the screen look and act how they envisioned.

Eventually, the sprites will be characters in games that the students are creating.

The one-hour session was over for Aiden Fisher. He announced to his mother, who was waiting for him, that he had “leveled up.” The instructor handed him a mallet and Fisher walked to a small gong at the front of the room. The instrument resonated with the impact of the mallet, and Fisher looked up with a smile.

This is Code Ninjas, a workshop where students learn to code and engage with other STEM topics. Owners Vassu Kamisetty, Teja Mittapalli and Muthu Sivakumar recently opened their franchise at 372 Cooley St., Space 25. It is one of about 400 Code Ninjas locations, mainly in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.

At Code Ninjas, the coding experience is coached in the language of the Korean martial art form Taekwondo. The room where the students learn is a “dojo,” the instructor is a “sensei” and as students level up, they earn sequential “belts” in the traditional Taekwondo belt colors, starting with white, and working up through yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, brown and red, before becoming a black belt.

Because the Springfield Code Ninjas has only been open for a few months, most of the roughly 60 students enrolled in the program are still white belts, although a few have begun their yellow belt training.

“The kids really like it,” said Kamisetty. “It keeps them motivated.”

Code Ninjas offers small group classes for children between 5 and 7 years old, during which they learn basic terminology and concepts. Students from 8 to 14 years old move on to individual work with help from the senseis.

Kamisetty taught her child at home during the coronavirus pandemic when schools were shuttered. With a professional background in coding, she looked for a STEM curriculum to teach but was unable to find one that satisfied her child’s needs. A few years later, she came across Code Ninjas.

Mittapalli, who has been a friend of Kamisetty since their now-teenage children were young, said she has always had an interest in hands-on projects for children and saw the possibility of Code Ninjas when Kamisetty brought it up to her. She said the students relate to the senseis because they are relatively young. They also relate to each other.

“They’re learning soft skills — team building, how to talk to your friend. It’s a wonderful time to see them bonding,” Mittapalli said. Kamisetty said the experience builds the students’ confidence. For children who are not interested in sports, Code Ninjas provides a group setting where they can engage with their peers while doing something they enjoy, she said, adding, “They’re building their own community.”

Beyond the STEM-based skills of problem solving and logic building, Kamisetty said the curriculum helps children improve their reading skills because the instructions in the proprietary curriculum are text-based.

Kamisetty said families were excited to sign their children up. “Parents ask, ‘Why were you not open sooner?’” she said with a laugh. The location, in the Five Town Plaza on Cooley Street, is convenient and allows the business to serve children from Springfield, Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, Wilbraham and Hampden, Kamisetty said.

Code Ninjas hired nine senseis, most of whom are in high school or college. Kamisetty said they have been “amazing. With just a little training, they go so far.” She said the students are also technologically savvy at young ages.

Kamisetty said there is always room to grow with Code Ninjas because the curriculum can be brought into schools and taught in a classroom format. While she and Mittapalli are focused on the current location, she said they do eventually plan to collaborate with area schools.