Kaiser Elementary fourth-grader Summer Magnusen is a self-proclaimed expert at the game Minecraft. Thanks to the gentle guidance of Newport Harbor High School senior Gizelle Aviles, Summer is learning to be an expert at coding the game, too.

“It’s fun, and you have to use your brain because there’s some math. I like doing math,” Summer said.

The fun was evident throughout Kaiser’s multipurpose room, as fourth-graders huddled over their laptops while computer science students from Newport Harbor offered pointers and praise. Newport Harbor teacher Dominic Bulone smiled as he surveyed the room. He wanted to bring the joy of the Hour of Code movement to Newport-Mesa Unified School District (NMUSD) elementary schools via his AP Computer Science students. The program started this spring, with the high school students traveling to nearby elementary schools — including Mariners, Woodland, Newport, and Kaiser — for one-hour sessions using the Hour of Code website. 

“I wanted our elementary students to see that anyone can code. It’s really a form of art. It involves creativity, problem solving, failure recovery, and a growth mindset, all of which are valuable to a student's progress,” Bulone said. 

The Hour of Code is designed to introduce students to the basics of computer science. Working under the direction of Bulone’s students, fourth-graders learned such programming concepts as sequencing, loops, conditionals, events, and problem-solving by arranging blocks of computer code. Involving a popular game keeps the activity engaging and fun.

It’s not just the younger students who are having fun. The older students gain mentorship skills while acting as role models. Relying on what they’ve learned in their own classes, they patiently guided their young peers through the activity, helping students determine where blocks should be moved or how to debug errors.  

For many of the NHHS students, the program provided an opportunity to visit their former teachers, as they had attended the elementary schools they visited. Seniors Jake Kettley and Christian Scholz attended Kaiser students and remembered the positive impact their teachers there had made. “It’s interesting to be back here. I remember this room being so much bigger,” Kettley said with a laugh. “It’s fun now to kind of be the teacher and to watch how fast these kids pick up coding,” he said. 

“There’s a huge benefit for our high school students by giving back to their school community and sharing the skills they’ve acquired,” Bulone said.

Mentoring relationships between older and younger students are invaluable in fostering academic growth, social development, and a sense of community within schools. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District (NMUSD) actively supports such mentoring initiatives through various programs and community partnerships. When students take the time to support their peers at any grade level — whether it’s through coding, cooking, reading programs, or leadership opportunities — they are forming bonds that can have lasting impacts on both ends: mentors develop a greater sense of responsibility and civic engagement, while younger students gain motivation and encouragement from peers who have walked the same school hallways just a few years ahead of them.