Jumpstart Philly

In honor of AAPI Heritage Month, we want to recognize of the most well-known figures in the world of education, Sal Khan. Sal Khan is a Bengali-American educator and founder of Khan Academy.

After tutoring his cousins and family members, he created a digital platform to make education accessible for anyone around the world, eventually quitting his job to pursue his non-profit full time.

Read below to learn more.

In Honor of Chinese/Lunar New Year, we wanted to recognize one of the biggest Asian American names in the tech sphere, Eric Yuan.

Eric Yuan is the founder and CEO of Zoom Communications Inc, founded in the 2010s, now worth over $25 billion dollars. Yuan has shaped how video conferencing is used in today's digital age.

Are you a high school student in Philadelphia looking to test your tech skills? Check out these awesome opportunities, held at Drexel University College of Computing & Informatics.

💻 Philly Codefest (High School Edition) 💻

Philly Codefest is holding their second hackathon for high school students on February 28, 2026, completely free. This is a one-day event where you gain skills through workshops, mentorships, and earn awards for top projects. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned programmer, this is the perfect opportunity to expand your coding skills.

Click here to learn more: https://lnkd.in/e6H-v34k

💻 Digital Development Camp (Summer 2026) 💻

The Drexel University Digital Development Camp, VirtuaQuest, is a specialized four-week in-person summer program led by College of Computing & Informatics (CCI). It provides participants with the chance to engage deeply with technology and digital development topics, guided by expert faculty and student leaders. Participants gain hands-on experience in areas such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, programming, and game development while building technical skills and exploring future paths in computing.

Click Here to learn more: https://lnkd.in/eRUZf2uP

Last week, we recapped on the 2026 Computer Science Student Experience at Drexel University College of Computing & Informatics. This was a free event for High School students in Philadelphia who were interested in Technology, diving into Cybersecurity, Computer Science, and Robotics.

Additionally, we had many Drexel student volunteers who ran workshops, interacted with students about their experiences, and provided insight into how CS shaped their interests and career goals.

Some notable Drexel Student organizations that helped contribute to the CS Student Experience include Hack4Impact Drexel and Drexel Women in Computing Society (WiCS), who both led wonderful and engaging workshops.

Thank you to all of our partners, including CS4Philly, National Science Foundation, Drexel Development Camp, Philly Codefest, and IRise Phil for making this possible.

Want to take your coding skills to the next level, or want your students to improve their programming with fun Christmas-themed challenges? Look no further than Advent of Code 2025.

Advent of Code is a free website that offers coding challenges through a fun Christmas-themed storyline. The project started in 2015, and has continued since. The site has over 100+ problems students can solve to test their problem solving skills.

These problems can be solved with any coding language, and are a perfect fun activity for educators to use in the classroom as a fun challenge. All experience is welcome!

If you are interested, click here to try it for yourself: https://adventofcode.com/