Alex Peng started high school as a gaming-obsessed teenager in San Francisco’s Sunset district. Now he’s a Stanford undergrad and tech enthusiast. Alex’s journey reflects the impact of Mission Bit, a nonprofit organization committed to narrowing the tech divide for the city's youth.

California is a center of global technological innovation, but just 40 percent of public high schools offer computer science classes. That’s well below the national average. 

Mission Bit was created to address the gap in computer science education. Run by a small team of eight full-time staff — five who grew up in San Francisco — Mission Bit offers free coding classes to underprivileged high school students between the ages of 14 and 18. 

Alex’s story
Alex was enrolled in Mission Bit’s program from 2016 to 2019. He has become a poster child for the values and impact that it stands for.

Born to immigrant parents in the late 1990s, Alex's life took a turn when he lost his mother at the age of eight. Raised by his grandparents while his dad mostly worked overseas, Alex found solace and connection in the virtual world of video games.

From a modest desktop computer to convincing his father to buy a gaming PC, he immersed himself in gaming after school and during summers, cultivating friendships and expressing himself through a YouTube channel focused on Minecraft.

The pivotal shift occurred in 9th grade when Alex learned about Mission Bit through his counselor at Lowell High School. Alex was introduced to the fundamentals of HTML, CSS, Python through Mission Bit’s project-based curriculum, Alex was able to collaborate with others to create personal websites, drag-and-drop file sharing sites, and other intricate projects.

Those experiences transformed Alex from a passive consumer of technology to an active creator. This is the intention of the designers of Mission Bit’s program.

Mission Bit’s philosophy
“All of our programming is project-based so that it creates the inspiration at the end for students, that they have created something themselves to show others,” explains Christina Ortega, the CEO of Mission Bit. “It really gives students the confidence to understand that they can be a creator, and they can build things.”

At Stanford, where Alexander pursues a computer science major, the tangible coding skills from Mission Bit may not have directly translated as his studies focused more on theories and mathematics. But the organization's influence manifested in his confidence in learning something from scratch and exceptional skills in collaboration and leadership.

Alex became President of the Student Advisory Board of Mission Bit, where students plan events, apply for grants and participate in other leadership opportunities.

The crowning achievement came with "Bridging the Youth Tech Divide," a virtual tech conference that Alex organized alongside other Student Advisory Board members during the COVID-19 pandemic. The conference featured Mission Bit alumni and a number of workshops, and was publicized through school counselors, Instagram, and youth-focused nonprofit organizations. It showcased Alex’s belief in Mission Bit’s mission to empower local youth to thrive in the dynamic world of technology.

“Among my peers from school, kids that grow up in San Francisco by and large do not think deeply about what tech could do for them, or what creating in tech looks like,” Alex reflects. “The thing that has always drawn me to Mission Bit is the poetic justice of enabling kids who grew up in public schools in San Francisco to really be plugged into the industry that has remade the city into the gold rush town it used to be.”

Mission Bit currently offers 12-week long courses on Python, Web Design, Game Design, and Virtual Reality, in addition to short, experiential workshops on similar topics. The courses are updated annually to reflect the rapidly changing trends in the tech industry, according to Ortega.

Every semester, Mission Bit receives an average of 300 applications and is only able to accept one third of the applicants.

A mission beyond tech
The program’s mission goes beyond closing the skills gap. The story of Alex serves as a testament for how it can also shape a young person’s identity by fostering a growth mindset.

Alex’s college admissions essay, a poignant letter to his late mother, played a pivotal role in securing him a spot at Stanford.

The essay was a reflection on growing up without the guidance of his mother — “always the responsible one in the family” — who proactively created opportunities for the children’s growth. She involved them in various extracurricular activities and Chinese schools, all of which disappeared into a gaping hole that Alex had to fill in himself.

“Going through high school, there was this anger I had. I’m gonna make sure my mom’s wishes were fulfilled,” Alex recalls.

But the anger has begun to slowly dissipate as Alex found purpose in being able to create things on his own and nurturing meaningful relationships. The experience with Mission Bit was a crucial catalyst in Alex’s metamorphosis.

“I saw him become more confident,” says Ortega, who worked closely with Alex while he was on the Student Advisory Board. “He was a completely different student than entered our program. His communication was like an adult. He just really learned how to navigate working on teams.”

As Mission Bit continues to illuminate pathways for San Francisco’s youth, it reminds us of the boundless possibilities when a young life intertwines with the world of technology and community.

Every young mind deserves to code their own future.

Learn more about how to apply to, volunteer for, and support Mission Bit.

Reported and written by volunteer community journalist Sophie Heng Shao. We encourage residents with journalism experience, retired journalists, and student journalists in high school and college to volunteer as writers for Supervisor Engardio’s newsletter. Interested? Apply here. Do you know a story you would like to see featured in the newsletter? Tell us about it here.