This year, Edison High School (EHS) has established a new club appointed by the following individuals: Jay Choski ’23, Advay Kadam ’23, and Rohan Shah ’23. Pranav Devraju ’24, a mentor of this organization, is also a board member. 

Gathering info from the board members of this new club, Hack Club, it is confirmed that the establishment was initiated by Kadam. In Kadam’s sophomore year, he felt that a club to learn code was essential to form, and so he decided to reach out to Shah and Choksi to assemble an establishment that seeks to provide students an introduction to the language of coding. Following some time of planning this vision, Shah explains the process for obtaining approval from Mr. Ross for its establishment. 

“Hack Club existed prior to us creating it, but leadership wasn’t passed down and it wasn’t officially approved by Mr. Ross. It was managed and led by seniors as well as Mr. Krajunus, the current computer science teacher and EHS track coach. Advay knew about this and wanted to establish a new vision for Hack Club. He wanted it to be better managed and be approved by Mr. Ross. In order to further achieve this goal, he partnered our club with the official Hack Club, a global nonprofit network of high school computer hackers, makers, and coders that includes 400 high school clubs and 14,000 students,” said Shah.

Hack Club now hosts meetings every week on Thursdays or Fridays in person or on Zoom. 

The board members of this club believe that this club was fated to be successful from the start and will continue to be successful, as according to them, the field of computer science has been increasingly more popular and valuable in the current times. 

“The Hack Club is doing fine for its first year. We got a lot of things figured out and we are getting the ball rolling slowly and picking up momentum.” Devraju states.

Additionally, Choksi said, “Right now the members are learning how to make websites. The purpose of the club at school is to educate students in all aspects of programming and help them grow and find their interests. Plus, computer science is used for everything in the world right now.”

These board members hope that it will be a great experience for all students interested in not just programming, but also occupations in information technology as a whole (cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, etc.)

Furthermore, members of Hack Club believe that the club has assisted them in gaining more knowledge of coding and inspiration to continue down the computer science path. 

Samarth Kaushik ‘23 remarks, “I think Hack Club is a club that tailors not just people who are for sure doing CS in college, but people who want to take a test drive at CS. It teaches students a valuable life skill that is changing our world as we speak.” 

In like manner, according to Phillip Guan ‘23, a member of Hack Club: “I like the atmosphere of the club as the advisors often help you learn how to code and their instructions are very nice and clear. The topic of programming is also very interesting, thus I find the club interesting as well.” 

Guan moreover voiced what knowledge of coding he had obtained from this organization: “I have learned how to further improve my use of JavaScript since the advisors are more advanced in their programming skills. I also learned how to use HTML with JavaScript to create a basic website, learning how to display fronts, images, and more when I am running my website.”

With Hack Club still being a new club, it has room to develop more members and enhanced planning lessons. Another member of this club, Abhinav Ghosh ‘23, remarked on this footing: “Hack Club is doing a good job teaching and ensuring that students make something fun, so I recommend Hack Club continues to do what it does. I think it can benefit more from advertising and perhaps if the school put it in the official list of clubs that could help it. I think that not a lot of students know about this club in general so writing an article about it could also be helpful.”

With the growing importance of technology as more and more people are becoming involved with technology, it can be questioned if Hack Club is an embodiment of the world becoming more dependent on computer science. Guan responded to this: 

“I think Hack Club is an embodiment of the world becoming more dependent on computer science because it is a club founded by people looking into computer science for their futures and many of the club members seem to have an interest in it as either a hobby or a possible career area. Some things the founders of the club teach can be useful to build an understanding of the basics of programming, which people can use in the real world in the future. These skills will be useful since computer science and technology are increasingly applied to aspects of life nowadays.”

Knowing that coding is essential to learn, as it teaches critical thinking skills and will play an even more prominent role in the future as the world is digitally transforming, it has also become a basic requirement for acquiring many careers in these modern times. Hack Club helps drive individuals into the computer science world so individuals can become even more prepared for the evolution of the future. 

“As far as coding is considered, it is perfect for students who enjoy math and problem-solving. Not only is this branch very lucrative, but it’s also one of the easiest to get into. You can be a lawyer, doctor, dentist, and still pursue a coding career on the side. Coding can be complicated at times, but don’t let that deter you because it’s very useful in almost every field. I recommend everyone including students that are not good at math to try out coding. In the future, we plan to expand beyond coding. Even though the main lucrative branch in computer science is coding, other branches such as cybersecurity, networking, and data science are also very popular.” Shah voices.