CODE NINJAS INDIANA NATIVE OPENS KIDS CODING CENTERS ACROSS CENTRAL INDIANA Writer / Trisha Turner Photography Provided by Code Ninjas
Cathi Canfield works in staffing, so she’s no stranger to the needs of the modern workforce. One of those needs is computer coding. But the benefits of coding go beyond the skill itself. Learning to code, Canfield says, also strengthens problem solving, selfconfidence and self-reliance. That’s why she wanted her own daughter to learn to code. And it’s why she’s now the franchise owner for a center that teaches coding to children ages 7-14.
Code Ninjas opened in Carmel in 2019, giving kids the opportunity to spend two hours each week — after school or on Saturdays — creating computer games and working toward building their own apps. A second local location, in Fishers, opened last June, with a Zionsville Code Ninjas planned for 2020. “Our goal first and foremost is to encourage a love of learning,” Canfield says. “I’ve had students who have come to me, and some parents, who say, ‘This is exactly what we’ve been looking for.’ Hopefully it’s a wonderful, safe, positive place for kids who want to pursue this, to lift them up and encourage that part of their brain.” atCarmel.com / MARCH 2020 / CARMEL MAGAZINE / 37
At Code Ninjas, children follow a belt system like that of karate or taekwondo. Each level of experience and accomplishment earns the student a different color of belt, all the way through the development of an app that is part of receiving the top-level, black belt. Students can make their self-created apps available through Apple or Google. A former Zionsville teacher directs Code Ninjas in Carmel, and 10 high school and college students work directly with children as “senseis.” Now a resident of Charlotte, N.C., Canfield is a southern Indiana native who previously
