Phoenix Coding Academy senior Dagny Howard has honed her coding and technology skills during her unique academic journey (submitted photo).

Dagny Howard, a senior at Phoenix Coding Academy in the Phoenix Union High School District, has had a unique academic journey. Before enrolling at Phoenix Coding Academy for high school, she was a part of the Eagle Ridge Enrichment Program in Mesa. Through this program, she attended mainly STEM-related courses a few days a week and was home-schooled for the rest of her coursework. Coding was always an integral part of Howard and her three younger siblings’ lives growing up.

The student’s parents, including her father, who works as a programmer, were not fans of mainstream video games. They told her and her siblings that they could play any video game that they could code themselves, which they did. Since Howard already had a background of coding and working with technology, choosing Phoenix Coding Academy for high school made perfect sense due to their rigorous technology-based curriculum. Two of her younger siblings attend Phoenix Coding Academy with her, and her youngest sibling will attend PCA next school year.

Attending Phoenix Coding Academy has been an experience that Dagny loves and enjoys. In particular, she is happy with her teachers and the attention they can provide in a small school environment.

“I love the teachers so much. All the teachers are so good. They care here,” Dagny said. She also notes that the relationships between students on campus are positive, saying, “I like how everyone knows each other. There is no bullying here.”

Students or families interested in Phoenix Coding Academy can visit www.pxu.org/enroll to begin the enrollment process for the 2024-25 school year.