#CodingLabStudents: Jacob Xu, 13, NUS High School, HCIC 2023 Gold Award Winner

March 10, 2024 Community

Our students are our pride and joy, and it always fills us with immense pleasure to share their growth and achievements to acknowledge them for their hard work.

Meet Jacob, a diligent 13-year-old coder who won the Gold Award in the Hwa Chong Infocomm Challenge (HCIC 2023), achieved a Distinction and Judges’ Choice (Best Presentation) Award at the International Coding Showcase (ICS) 2022, and is currently attending NUS High School, which he got into via DSA!

Earlier in February 2024, Jacob’s team - Team Coding Lab Urban Coders (Ages 13 to 18) -comprising students from Singapore and Japan beat more than 500 teams (and 10,000 participants) to snag the Best Programming Award in the final competition! Jacob was selected to represent his team and share about their project at the final competition, and even had the chance to tour the Microsoft Japan HQ in Shinagawa, Tokyo. 🤩

Jacob first discovered the wonders of programming at the tender age of 6, right here at Coding Lab! He attended one of our Holiday Programmes to learn Scratch, which ignited a deep passion for coding within him! By the age of 9, Jacob had already progressed to Python, an extraordinary feat for a coder of his age!

Here is Jacob at the Microsoft Headquarters at Tokyo, Japan, to present the project on behalf of his team for the 2023 Minecraft Cup!

Hi Jacob! Tell us about yourself. What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

I have many interests and hobbies! I love coding and working on different projects. Outside of coding, I really like Mathematics so I am reading up on Calculus. I also like playing video games like Minecraft, and reading!

You applied for DSA via coding, right? Which school(s) did you get a confirmed DSA offer from?

I got offers from NUS High School and Catholic High School.

You have received several awards - Gold Award in HCIC 2023, Grand Prize (1st Prize), and Best Programming Award in Minecraft Cup 2023, as well as Distinction and Judges’ Choice (Best Presentation) Awards in ICS 2022. How did you feel about your achievements?

I was happy to get the awards. It felt great to know that the projects that I have worked hard on and created based on my interests are liked by others. For the Minecraft Cup 2023, I am glad for the hard work done by my team members and for the opportunity to go to Japan to present our project on behalf of the team!

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Why do you think learning to code is so important?

I think that the world is modernizing and technology is becoming more advanced. Without coding, we would not be able to do a lot of things that we see and use today in our everyday lives, for example, Face ID in phones.

Please share with us how you first got started with Coding.

My dad wanted me to learn how to use computers so he helped me set up a Scratch account. This made me interested in coding, and I wanted to learn more, so I joined Coding Lab to improve my coding skills!

Jacob is proudly showing his periodic table, which he also turned into a coding project!

What do you like about coding? How has coding positively impacted your life?

Coding lets me do many different tasks with the help of automation. For example, tabletop games which I really like can now be played digitally with the help of Artificial Intelligence. Knowing about programming helps me in my current school years to build on my critical thinking skills. It also prepares me for the future when I would like to work in the technological field.

What do your family and friends say when they hear that you code?

My family encourages me to code and start from a young age. When I show my close friends my coding projects, they say that they are very cool. I am happy to share my coding knowledge with my friends and family and I try to explain coding concepts to them in a simple manner.

What are some difficulties you faced while learning to code? How did you overcome them?

So far, I am proficient in Python but I find it hard to branch out into other programming languages due to the difference in syntax. The biggest challenge is adapting to different syntaxes while working on varying projects. I overcame this by performing extensive self-research in my free time to ensure that I can remember the syntaxes of different languages. There is an abundance of resources available online to help me!

What was the inspiration for your ICS coding project in 2022?

I wanted to raise awareness of the Russia-Ukraine War, and use the website to raise funds for the children who are badly affected. Using my coding skills is one way I can contribute in my own way!

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What is your biggest takeaway from your ICS participation?

My biggest takeaway from the ICS is being able to create coding projects that can be used by anyone and everyone. The most exciting moment was when I used “GitHub” to push my website to publish! I have always wanted other people to interact with my coding projects, and I am thankful that ICS provided me with an opportunity to share my projects with a wider audience.

What is your favourite thing about Coding Lab?

Here is Jacob with his trophy and certificate for ICS 2022!

I like that at Coding Lab, I am often pushed out of my comfort zone to solve more challenging problems such as debugging and formatting. These valuable learning experiences along with the patient guidance of my educators are what help me to improve on my coding skills!

Share with us about an ongoing or upcoming project that you are working on!

Currently, I am creating a game using Pygame Zero for my school's social studies project. The project is about the legacies of Rome and there is a collection of minigames inside to help me and my friends learn!

What are your future coding aspirations?

In the future, I wish to be a mathematician or a quantum physicist. This is because I want to apply my coding skills in these fields to solve real-world problems and bring about greater good for humanity!

Any words of advice for beginner coders?

To the beginner coders out there, don’t be afraid and always try your best. If you face difficulties, Google is always there to help you — so make good use of available resources!

We are so proud of Jacob for never giving up, and being so motivated to improve on his coding skills to create meaningful coding projects that will leave a positive impact for communities around the world.

At Coding Lab, we encourage our students to apply their coding skills and give back to society in their own ways. With coding, our students can do so much, from working on websites with a focus on raising awareness to creating fun, educational learning resources! We hope that Jacob’s journey has inspired you to take your first steps towards coding, so that YOU can also make a difference!

Our #CodingLabStudents blogs feature our ambitious students and their ongoing coding journeys – be it the budding coder or advanced Python Pro, we appreciate each and every single one’s efforts as they progress to greater heights. 🌱

Coding Lab offers an award-winning curriculum specially for ages 5 to 18 – check out our courses to begin your own coding journey today!

(Written by Thinzar)