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We seek to provide a hands-on and practical computer science education that teaches through making, not listening. We believe that active learning through projects allows students to develop their problem-solving skills and resourcefulness that translates to learning all fields of technology and beyond. Through our efforts, we hope to inspire our generation of youth to be enthusiastic about computer science while learning skills applicable to real-world scenarios.
HandsOnTech Silicon Valley is a nonprofit organization which offers classes aimed at elementary and junior high students allowing students to experiment with current and new technologies, such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and microelectronic computing. Students will work with in command-line tools and programming languages such as Python, learn to connect I/O devices such as sensors, and different file structures.
For more information on past, current, and future course offerings, visit our Courses page.
We seek to extend STEM education to youth without barriers. We host free-to-attend interactive learning sessions at libraries and farmers' markets, where students of all skill levels and ages can expand their programming skills, learn about the Raspberry Pi and connecting various sensors, and have a taste for computer science.
To be notified for new events, and view our past and scheduled activites, visit our Free Community Events page.
We are run by a group of enthusiastic, computer-science loving high school volunteers.
Our TAs act as guides rather than teachers, advising students on how to learn and to locate their own resources. They act as project advisors for classwork and support student creativity and critical thinking.
Benny Liu is an Freshman at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. In high school, he was the software lead of his school’s International Space Station Research Lab and an ambassador for the UC Berkeley ROAR program. He worked on on using AI to improve fall detection and loves experimenting with machine learning models.
Yourui Shao is a high school senior at BASIS Independent Silicon Valley who enjoys problem-solving, mathematics, and making art. She is also an avid sleeper and loves proofreading her overcomplicated but grammatically correct sentences. She placed 11th in the Bay Area Math Olympiad and is an AIME and Math Prize for Girls qualifier.
Jinting is a junior at Leigh High School who is interested in coding and engineering and has participated in the MIT BeaverWorks Challenge. He has been essential as a teaching assistant and instructor since the start of HandsOnTech, and has been teaching at Kumon for several years.
Yujie Wu is a high school junior at Basis Independent Silicon Valley. She enjoys programming, engineering, and digital art. She has 5 years of programming experience and a member of an award-winning FTC Team.
Sherry Xu is a sophomore at Leigh High School and the secretary and treasurer of her class student body. She highly enjoys drawing and painting, as well as talking to people.
Caroline Chen is a rising senior at BASIS Independent Silicon Valley. She enjoy programming, reading novels, and playing games in her free time. "I look forward to working with everyone!"
Stephanie Liu is a high school senior at BASIS Independent Silicon Valley who is interested in both computer science and the humanities. She enjoys spending her very limited amount of free time sleeping and writing unnecessarily long theories on the lives of a multitude of literary figures. She is an alumnus of the Stanford Summer Humanities Institute and the international team champion of the 2022 World Scholar's Cup Yale Tournament of Champions.
Michael Zhu is a high school senior at BASIS Independent Silicon Valley who is interested in computer science, and as most teenagers games (but also makes them). He is a fan of science fiction such as shows like Black Mirror and the Expanse.
Cindy Liu is a high school senior at Basis Independent Silicon Valley who is interested in computer science. She enjoys reading elaborate works of fiction and making spreadsheets for her favorite games. She has also participated in the MIT BeaverWorks Summer Institute program, and she is a USACO Silver programmer well-versed in both Java and Python.
Kenneth Sun is a senior at BASIS Independent Silicon Valley. He is interested in computer science and is currently trying to learn more about machine learning and how to develop machine learning models. Outside of academics, he likes to swim and play video games poorly.
Kelly Hu is a Freshman at Stratford Preparatory and likes to code and draw. She is a part time digital artist that loves creating projects for others to see. She is an experienced Python coder at school and an experienced teaching assistant, working closely with students. "I hope we can have a great time!"
Susie Wen is a senior at Valley Christian High School. She enjoys engineering-related activities, web design, and listening to music. She’s also been working on CADding and learning about 3D modeling!
Sean is a junior at Leigh High School. He enjoys playing go game and edits videos to post on his youtube in his free time.
Leo Hao is a student at the Almaden campus of Challenger School. He enjoys programming and many other aspects of computer science. In his spare time, Leo likes reading novels, learning new languages (particularly German), and doing things that involve history or aviation. "Let's reach new heights together!"
Leo is a freshman at Basis Independent Silicon Valley. He likes computer science, engineering, and playing video games in his free time. He knows how to code in both python and c++.
Zihang Yu – Former TA, 2023 Summer Basic+