{"id":233631,"date":"2026-05-05T13:32:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T23:32:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=233631"},"modified":"2026-05-05T13:37:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T23:37:23","slug":"coding-confidence-icspark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/05\/05\/coding-confidence-icspark\/","title":{"rendered":"Coding confidence: UH<\/abbr> Mānoa showcase highlights next gen of innovators"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\"kids<\/p>\n

Twenty 6th-12th grade students from across Oʻahu<\/span> shared websites and coding projects they built during the spring 2026 semester at the annual ICSpark Spring Showcase on April 25 at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa<\/span> Campus Center Ballroom.<\/p>\n

\"people<\/p>\n

The student-led event, organized by student organization ICSpark<\/a> in the UH<\/abbr> Mānoa<\/span> Department of Information and Computer Sciences, featured final projects from students enrolled in the program\u2019s free Intro to Web Development course, where participants spent four months learning HTML<\/abbr>, CSS<\/abbr> and JavaScript from UH<\/abbr> Mānoa<\/span> student mentors. Projects were presented in a science fair-style format, giving families, friends and community members a chance to explore the students\u2019 work and hear directly from the young developers.<\/p>\n

“This year was quite the challenge for sure,” said ICSpark President Cody Torres. “Our team faced numerous challenges, including limited access to technology, old practices we relied on breaking and the Kona Low storms. Despite all of that, we’ve managed to pull off yet another great year of ICSpark! Super proud of both our students and mentors for keeping the spark alive for yet another year, and looking forward to continuing this path for others to follow!”<\/p>\n

\"people<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s showcase also included the second annual SWITCH<\/abbr> x ICSpark Hackathon, where students collaborated on coding challenges and competed for awards presented during the event.<\/p>\n

The spring program ran every Saturday from January through April and offered both in-person classes at UH<\/abbr> Mānoa<\/span> and online participation through Zoom. No prior coding experience was required, making the program accessible to students exploring computer science for the first time.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2019, ICSpark is a registered independent organization at UH<\/abbr> Mānoa<\/span> and is part of Technology Outreach Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, a nonprofit focused on promoting technology education across the state. The organization\u2019s mission is to provide motivated middle and high school students with a fun, supportive and nonintimidating environment to learn coding skills and connect with college mentors.<\/p>\n

The Department of Information and Computer Sciences is housed in UH<\/abbr> Mānoa<\/span>\u2019s College of Natural Sciences<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The spring program ran every Saturday from January through April and offered both in-person classes at UH<\/abbr> and online through Zoom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":233633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[308,541,484,1466,568],"class_list":["post-233631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-college-of-natural-sciences","tag-computer-science","tag-information-and-computer-science","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-natural-science","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t