Twenty-four new programmers walked the stage

The community centre was standing room only. Twenty-four teenagers, most of whom had never touched a code editor eight months ago, presented what they built: a bus-route finder, a homework tracker, a game about mangrove conservation that made the back row laugh out loud.

The projects mattered less than what came with them. Parents who had watched their kids disappear into our Saturday sessions finally saw what the fuss was about. Three graduates asked, before the chairs were stacked, how they could come back as mentors.

Every seat in that room was funded by a donation. The average cost of getting one student from first click to demo day is about TT$350. Somebody covered each one of them, and this is what it bought.