Embark Labs

Embark Labs is a great program that every single middle school should implement. The workshops not only teach the kids the basics of programming, but also teaches them valuable skills needed to succeed in today’s economy. It was great to see my kids at the end of their week long session present to their peers and other parents their final project. Embark Labs sparked my kids’ creativity and the entrepreneur in them. My daughter kept thinking about how she could have made her presentation better and how she could have developed her app more even after a week her session ended.

My son joined the Explore CS class for age group of 7 – 11 at U-​Me in Menlo Park. From the first day that I picked him up from class he was raving about it saying how much he had learned and how he understood it more than the other coding classes he had previously taken because at Embark Labs gave the kids visual informations through grids on the floor or ideas on the white board and really walked them through understanding the basic coding process. The teachers Joleen and Laura were great with my son. The owner CEO Jesse was so accommodating and helpful. I definitely recommend it! I was trying to get my son into another class but they were all sold out for the summer! Through Embark Labs my son will be able to attend a family event at the Facebook HQ which he is super excited about! Thank you Embark Labs! We hope to return and join another class!

My 7 year old twin girls attended the Explore CS session class. I cannot say enough good things about Embark Labs. Exposing kids to Computer Science is such a valuable lesson. I wasn’t sure if 7 was too young. I quickly realized it’s definitely not! The instructors are wonderful. They are all skilled at engaging the students and making sure everyone understands. They took a room of kids who did not know each other and created a safe learning environment where kids feel comfortable asking questions and raising their hands. The student to instructor ratio is amazing. The kids are learning so much and don’t even realize it. I have an expression I used to use when parent’s opted to send their kids to other types of camps; this is an opportunity to learn life skills and not just make lanyards. My 7 year old girls are learning life skills while having fun. I highly recommend sending your kids to a session at Embark Labs.

I’m a Googler and helped one weekend at a Saturday coding workshop. It was like I was at a filming of a Bill Nye the Science Guy show, the instructor was THAT GOOD. Design-​thinking and creative problem solving is baked into the curriculum of this class, and the language is code. It was more helpful than some of my college classes, and explained much clearer. There were kids writing code on the table with markers and really enjoying it. The diverse set of kids there were EXCITED and happy and working together to make stuff.

I took my daughter (1^st grade) to a Saturday coding workshop they held and it was so fun, for both of us! I wasn’t sure what to expect as I have no experience with coding. The speaker/​instructor was dynamic, encouraging, and able to get my shy daughter to start speaking up. At the workshop, we learned some fun group based activities that lay basic foundation for not only coding, but on ways to express ideas clearly which i think is so valuable for young kids. Great experience.

As a local 3^rd grade teacher, I’m impressed by their instructional style and you can clearly see the kids are learning and having fun. I have volunteered with them in the past and was really impressed with the energy and teaching style the educators brought each day.
As an instructor it is exciting to see new programs for K-​12 students which really supports different types of learners. It was great to see so many young girls not only coming together to code but enjoying it without it being a «girls only» program. I would definitely recommend this program to students and parents in my classroom!