An hour after the final bell rang at Treadwell Middle School, more than a dozen students sat in the school library anxiously squirming in their seats. No, they weren’t in detention. They weren’t even wanting to go home. Members of the Code Crew were chomping at the bit to get to work on an app they were learning how to build.

Code Crew is a non-profit organization that offers in-depth lessons in coding and computer science for students. The organization teamed up with the Shelby County Schools Project Green Schools to start the first Code Crew program in the district at Treadwell Middle.

"Kids in our city are very comfortable with technology as consumers but not seeing themselves as producers," said Meka Egwuekwe, co-founder and executive director of Code Crew. "Many kids have app ideas. Now they are acquiring the skills to make that app or whatever they think of a reality"

Code Crew was founded in May 2015 as a pilot program funded by the Memphis Grizzlies Foundation. It began as a summer program at the Lester Community Center but has since grown. Code Crew now operates after-school programs at two area schools, two community centers and at the Benjamin L. Hooks Library.  It also has two in-school elective classes at two schools and offers a video game developing class on the weekends. In all, about 170 kids are enrolled in Code Crew programs.

Students at Treadwell Middle do not see coding and programming as just something fun to do after school. They know the skills they learn each week could have big impact on their future.

"It’s a good skill you will need in college. It’s one of the things they look at," said Abdul Sabeha, who is part of Treadwell Middle’s Code Crew program. "We learn about coding, then do the coding on the computer, then play the game or app we just made on the tablet. It’s fun."