What a summer!

During spring 2020, I told my Intermediate Java class at the time that they are my best class so far (other students please don’t be jealous) , guess what, our classes keep getting better and better , and our Intermediate Java class for Summer 2020 exceeded my expectation in so many different ways, and they truly rocked! Our entire class’s average score is over 100, imagine how much extra work our students put in! I am super pleased and proud of everyone’s unbelievable accomplishment, which are perfectly manifested from their spectacular final projects.

But before that, I would like to recognize our top performers of the class:

I didn’t realize Alex’s other abilities than programming until I saw some of his spectacular works — the amount of attention to details, the artistic sense and use of colors and layouts, the vast amount of additional features and bells and whistles and he puts in all proactively by himself without anyone asked him to do — all beyond what I can applaud with words. You guys should check out his awesome final project, and prepare to be wow-ed.

#1 Aaron

Aaron has been the top performer of the class throughout the course. He is always super excited, passionate and diligent for each and every lesson, and consistently goes above and beyond! When I asked everyone to build most basic version of the TicTacToe game to start with as homework, he not only built one, not two, three, but FOUR different version of the game — All being fully functional and looks specular! I always had a hard time grading his homework because I couldn’t give him a score that really reflects the amount of the work he put in! Sometimes he recorded extra videos to walk me through more details of how he did the homework. Despite the extra credits that I kept giving him, his effort, enthusiasm and quality of work deserves much more! With a score of 145 out of 100, I am not surprised that he is the #1 top performer of the class.

Be sure to also check out his beautiful and vast final project, and imagine the amount of work behind it! And I should mention that Aaron is taking our courses at super speed and pace, I have no doubt that he will ascend higher and higher, enjoy the ride!

#2 Susanna

Susanna is the rising star of our class! She only started to learn programming in our Fundamental Java class in spring 2020 (last semester). I vividly remember she sits at the first row (in those very few lessons before everyone needs to stay home), being attentive but unsure, but kept trying. Even by the end of the Fundamental Java class, she was definitely not one of the top students. I am glad she doesn’t gave up easily and kept at it to discover whether this is something she may be at. And guess what?! She is not only good at it, she is super good at this!

Intermediate Java class definitely clicked with her and propelled her to excel. Pretty soon after the class began, I noticed her producing one after another superior work that kept blowing me away. Instead of producing a simple snake game, She proactively designed and implemented lots of more features, modes, and options, and the quality of work, and fine craftiness… all are over the top. I can’t imagine how much time and work she put in behind those beautiful works (and this is the same with many of our students who showcased great amount of previous passion and efforts!) When everyone was beginning to work on the Sims game, Susanna was two lessons ahead of everyone and already figured out and completed all features that I was yet to go over with the classes, and even features that never showed or required, beautifully and flawlessly. The overall score of 130 of 100 doesn’t remotely reveal her talent, passion and capabilities!

Truly bravo, Susanna. I am glad you found your talent and interest, and can’t wait to see you continue to shine!

#3 Alex

Alex is one of our many loyal students, after taking the Fundamental Java class and others in previous years, he is back to sharpen his skill and flex his power — no, I am kidding — Alex has been always bright and humble, truly a pleasure to have.

Alex starts to rock from the get-go, during one of the earliest lessons, he was already harvesting the most extra credits by doing extra work, one of the other students – when seeing Alex’s highest points – was even inquiring with how can Alex possibly do to get that many points! (That is our students, always striving to do more, and achieve more!)

With a score of 125 out of 100, a truly super star!

Complete with Honors

Ashley: 120/100

Ashley has been learning from us for a few semesters, she is bright, diligent and also trying her best! You can see from her massive final project which contains one main central game and four more games, including two new games she created. Each of her mini game could have won very deserving-applause! She is our top participants in class, engaging and inquisitive. I always enjoy her in class and look forward to witness her rise higher and higher! Well done, Ashley!

Nathan: 115/100

always working hard and paying attention to class, and usually one of the few students that gave me feedback and let me know how he is doing. His minesweeper game is unbelievably well done, both from the design and look and feel perspective, and in terms of technical difficulty, he has to figure out how to do very complicated things algorithm-wise, which involves USACO silver level topics. Great job Nathan!

Freddy : 115/100

Very talented and humble, whatever he puts his hearts to, he will deliver wonderfully. Be sure to check out his creative and beautiful jewel robber project, which is such a pleasure to look at, play, and inspiration to his classmates! Keep going Freddy!