Coding can be fun at this new dojo

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Technology-based education has become increasingly necessary in today’s world. Since the pandemic, many companies have taken to having their employees work from home on personal computers, but even before the pandemic, technology has affected the way businesses operate.

Business owner Ryan Clark has made it his mission to help provide technology based educational opportunities to the next generation with his new Ponte Vedra location of Code Ninjas.

Code Ninjas was founded in 2016 and franchised the following year. To date, it has over 300 locations in the United States, but only one location in the Northeast Florida area, until Clark opened a second franchise in Ponte Vedra Beach this week. Code Ninjas main philosophy is to show kids that learning coding can be fun while also being educational. Young ninjas begin by learning the basic functions of coding, such as JavaScript, and work their way up until they can create their very own video game.

“We need to help our youth in a way that is exciting, innovative, and engaging,” said Clark.

Clark himself served in the military for nearly a decade, and when he emerged, he began working with project management teams. Clark’s experience in the corporate world taught him that nearly everything is technology based these days, and an extremely important function of success.

“How to code is just as important to a developer as it is to an accountant,” he said.

Code Ninjas aligned with Clark’s beliefs about the importance of technology, and he said that he also enjoyed the idea of the learning process being a fun one.

The facility operates similar to any other dance or karate studio, where parents enroll their children in different length programs. Kids from ages 7-14 can leverage their screen time and love of video games into something positive, and possibly inspire future careers.

Just as in a regular dojo, Code Ninja’s students work on a nine-belt system, beginning with a white belt where they learn the basic computer systems. As they progress, they learn Lua, and then C-Sharp, and the culmination of their lessons at the dojo is to earn their black belt by coding and publishing their very own application.

Although the studio has only opened in Ponte Vedra recently, Clark said that community reaction has been positive, with many parents already stopping in to enroll their children in lessons.

For their opening, Code Ninjas is running a Founding Family discount, which incudes 30% off a membership, a 10% off sibling discount, and a free weeklong summer camp program.