A Boolean Girl Instructor Story: Kade

I thought it was an interesting idea, to teach after doing it for so long. It’s a really good program, and I liked the concept of teaching others what I love to do.

One of the greatest joys as a teacher is to watch your students not only learn and catch on to what you teach, but to take it and run with it. Our favorite stories to tell are of our “full circle” instructors – instructors who started with Boolean Girl as students, then took what they learned at Clubhouse and Camp and progressed into teaching at Boolean Girl themselves while pursuing their STEM careers.

Kati (Kade) Thompson is one of our full-circle instructors. Kade started with Boolean Girl nearly a decade ago at Jamtech 2015, where as a second grader, they participated in a day of coding at the event where Boolean Girl was leading the sessions for young girls. Jamtech like many STEM events was JAMmed with boys. Boolean Girl aimed to change that by engaging girls too young to participate in the main session. Kade attended Jamtech again in 2016, and then received a Boolean Box for Christmas that year to continue to learn Scratch coding on their own. The following summer Kade joined Boolean Girl for their first Camp!

Kade found Boolean Girl through that first Jamtech event, and realized very early on what they wanted to do with their future. Kade wanted to code. They found excitement in the coding itself and encouragement from instructors. Kade was around people who loved coding and STEM as much as they did. When Kade got the opportunity to learn more, they embraced it, like during the 2017 solar eclipse when Kade excitedly got the class to make cardboard box viewers to watch the eclipse.

Over the next two years, Kade attended Camps and Clubhouses and other Boolean Girl events whenever they could until 2019 when they began volunteering with us. That first year, Kade was a volunteer under Sydney, one of our high school instructors. This year, they were both Camp instructors. 

COVID-19 was a brief stumbling block for Kade. As with many students, the pandemic disrupted Kade’s academic trajectory, temporarily derailing them from their goals. Kade overcame personal struggles to return to a more positive, productive place, continuing to volunteer and then teach at Boolean Girl Camps. 

Boolean Girl was Kade’s first real job. Through teaching, Kade was able to work on new ideas and projects while sharing their skills with others. 

“I thought it was an interesting idea, to teach after doing it for so long. It’s a really good program, and I liked the concept of teaching others what I love to do,” said Kade. “It’s kind of like learning to code all over again. You have to think about how to teach it, analyze it. It’s getting into how coding works, and it makes me rethink how to code.”

After the last day of camp this August, where Kade led mostly Python classes, we said goodbye as Kade embarked on their Freshman year of college at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Kade is entering college with an open mind and a positive outlook. 

“I want to be somewhere happy and content and independent,” Kade said when asked what they are hoping to do next. 

Kade’s dream is to one day work on a project that has an impact. Right now Kade is most excited about working in Python, but admits that might change as they learn what else is out there. 

Our instructors are mentors for our younger students. With the current gender gap in STEM careers, especially coding and engineering, our female and non-binary instructors show students that they too can fit in and be successful in STEM. Kade is a great example of what our students can do, and we are so excited to watch as they take the world by storm!