Mississippi Based Coding Academy Adds Silicon Valley Talent and Expands Leadership Team

The non-profit charity, which provides under-advantaged youth with fast-paced, focused vocational training in computer programming to support the technology needs of local and regional employers, announced Monday that John Terenzio has stepped into a new Software Engineer in Residence role.

Terenzio brings significant programming and technology experience from his 10 years in the San Francisco Bay Area at Eventbrite and Airbnb as both a software engineer and engineering manager.  He now consults on a wide range of software engineering and people management topics.

Recently relocated to Oxford, MS, Terenzio has been consulting in the classroom, both as a mentor and teacher for the students, and providing insight from his industry experience for the Base Camp curriculum.  Terenzio notes, “Technology is rapidly altering our economy, and income inequality is an urgent issue.  I find BCCA inspiring because it addresses both of these issues head on, by teaching cutting-edge skills to students who would not otherwise be pursuing this field.  I am thrilled be welcomed into the Base Camp Coding Academy family and to share my experience and skills with these amazing students!”

In addition to the creation of the Software Engineer in Residence role, Sean Anthony, the Director of Base Camp Coding Academy for the past 2.5 years has been promoted to the position of Executive Director.  Anthony will be overseeing all daily operations of the program, including community relations and recruitment.

Anthony’s history as a founding instructor of Base Camp, coupled with his years of experience with Teach for America, make him exceptionally qualified for the role and Base Camp is excited to continue its growth trajectory under his leadership.

As Base Camp prepares to grow, a search committee has been established to expand the teaching team to prepare for a larger student population. The organization is looking for an additional instructor who has strong pedagogy skills and is passionate about supporting student growth and development in technical training and career readiness.  For a full job description and instructions on how to apply, candidates may visit https://basecampcodingacademy.org/misc/bcca-instructor-job-description.pdf.

For more information about Base Camp Coding Academy, go to https://www.basecampcodingacademy.org/.  Nominations for the class of 2020 will be accepted starting in January.  To nominate a student for the full scholarship program, contact Sean Anthony at sean@basecampcodingacademy.org. The 2020 class will begin on June 3, 2019.

About Base Camp Coding Academy

Located in Water Valley, MS, the non-profit Base Camp Coding Academy (BCCA) is a hands-on, challenging and fun program, designed to train recent high school graduates to be software engineers. In a small classroom setting, students work with real world technologies to learn the fundamentals of coding, app development and the life leadership skills they will need to be successful in their career and competitive in the job market. The year-long program is free to students thanks to the support of Sustaining Sponsors including the MorganWhite Group, CoreLogic, Renasant Bank, CSpire, and FedEx and aims to help address the private sector’s historical shortage of high-tech skilled labor by training local youth to fill the positions. Every year, Mississippi has 1,200 unfilled computing jobs and less than 200 computer science graduates.

Everest, also located in Water Valley, Miss., is a partnership with Northwest Mississippi Community College, The City of Water Valley, Delta Regional Authority, and corporate and philanthropic sponsors to develop Mississippi’s first Rural Education and Innovation Hub providing tech and tech adjacent workforce training in this previously underserved region of Mississippi.