Jacob Scholl is a high school student who plays chess on Saturdays and devours books by Malcolm Gladwell and Angela Duckworth. He can easily explain the principles of quantum computing as he can pound drum solos in his band. And after learning to code himself, he decided to share his passion by establishing a nonprofit organization that brought free courses on coding to over 1,000 students across five continents.
What began as a one-person “test run” at Live Oak School, a former middle school in Shaul, is a 16-person business offering online, online and in-person courses for weeks at more than 30 institutions, including more than 12 schools and support facilities in the Bay Area where Shaul currently lives. Shoal and his volunteers don't have a driver's license so they get on the bus. Anyway, it's not yet.
“I really enjoy teaching people the skills,” says the 17-year-old Shoal when asked why he spends his free time like this. “I want to use the power that technology has and help people use it.”
Shaul launched code mode in 2024 after teens found it easy to learn about the inside and outside of computing from their peers. Shaul and his high school friends teach courses on AI, web and video game development at nine Bay Area schools. It provides educational opportunities for underresourced students, such as local initiatives and groundbreaking summer bridges and young steamers. Their international class has an equally impressive range from India to Italy, Botswana to Bolivia, but they are still about to reach even more.
However, Shaul expanded his classrooms primarily from middle school students, expanding his classrooms to include seniors in assisted living facilities. According to Shaul, his mother persuaded Rhoda Goldman Plaza, an assisted living facility in San Francisco, to introduce his program. Over the past six months, the program has grown with Shaul providing his free classes to around 20 or more facilities. Seven has led him to it, and Shoal and his volunteers teach classes once a week for four weeks, continuing to provide one-on-one support to seniors seeking further support.
It turns out that older people are also open to learning about teenage skills. When Shaul and his volunteers appear in matching mode to code for Polos, they meet around 12 seniors at facilities around the Bay Area. From technical lessons to technical support, Shaul's five-week program offers a positive space for curious seniors who may be intrigued by potential AI applications in their daily lives or are looking to set up emails on their phones.
“They know a lot more than I expected,” Scholl said, highlighting the curiosity and perceptibility of his senior students.
The goal of these classes is to “close the digital divide between generations,” according to Aydin Khaleeli, a co-leader of the 17-year-old programme, who was encouraged to join modes to code as teachers by technical challenges facing connections with Pakistani grandparents.
Khaleeli said he is worried that people will be “really left behind” due to lack of basic knowledge of technology and AI.
Like other talented teachers, shawls and volunteers cater to the needs of students. The class is designed to “one size fits everything,” but as Shaul explains, he curates certain elements to make the technology “useful on a daily basis.”
Living just outside the Silicon Valley Global Technology Hub, these seniors were already familiar with many high-tech tools, using AI to do everything from generating draft obituaries to assisting with translations. However, Shaul's tutorial helped them to give them more confidence.
Ed Kaplan, who had a career as an environmental scientist, appeared in the shawl class, whom he believed was ahead of the curve. He knows that he uses ChatGpt immediately and always checks footnotes, especially on hot or controversial topics. Kaplan turned to the tool when a friend who had been grieving her spouse needed inspiration and helped her compose Obitt. He gathered all the important details about this person's life, plugged them in, and marveled at the quality of the content he returned “in eight seconds.” His friend, although initially surprised, he highly praised the copy.
But for Kaplan and other seniors, the bigger priority is to detect online and phone scams. According to FBI data, Americans over the age of 60 reported losing $4.9 billion from fraud in 2024.
Shaul and Khaleeli devote a week to explain how to avoid fraud. Scammers are more refined, and retirees are often their main targets.
Their email inboxes overflow with technical assistance fraud offers. Text messages pop up to withdraw from debts in the IRS, and talks about lunch tables often center on the increase in calls they get. They feel that their grandchildren are insisting they need help, they feel that their stakes are very high and they have to act immediately. Both staff and seniors believe that shame will help enable these con artists. Because no one wants to admit that they've been fooled.
Paulette Arosty, 87, received a call like this. “The elderly are a very vulnerable group,” Aloety said, “Sometimes they answer the phone just for the company or get a little vague about things, and older people follow more orders.”
Kaplan said that even educated people are sensitive to being deceived when it comes to fraud. As an example, Kaplan cited a doctor who lost between $2,000 and $3,000. The doctor “didn't tell us until he joined our dinner table and someone else had the power to say they had been scam,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan and Aloeti discussed the importance of a forum where older people can openly talk about such topics, get help and feel unashamed. Kaplan said openness and seeking help can block these plots. He shared the story of a scammer once attempting to convince an acquaintance to put cash in a foil package and place it on a transportation site. However, the woman mentioned what she did to the intervening retirement housing staff, so the pair were able to hook the package just before shipping, saving $800.
Arotesti was nearly tricked by a scammer who was offering technology help when he ran into an iPad issue. When the scammer contacted her and offered to fix it, she almost agreed. However, he was suspected of pressing his debit card number on his constant phone call. Arotesti tested her appointment by telling the man that she doesn't have a debit card. What happened next confirmed it: “He was upset and hung up,” she said with a laugh.
Aging population and agetech
According to the 2024 Census Bureau, nearly one in five people in the United States were over 65 years old. Globally, the number of people in this age group is projected to reach 1.6 trillion in 2050, according to the United Nations. This aging population, driven by a growing reliance on technology for connectivity and convenience, has created a lucrative opportunity for companies to invest in technology solutions in the accelerated category, conveniently dubbed “Agetech.”
Agetech sometimes lowers the elderly threshold to include people over 50, but it consists of technologies and services designed to help target demographics improve the quality of life. According to the 2030 AARP forecast, many well-known companies in diverse sectors, including CVS Health, Hyundai and Best Buy, are investing in this category as they watch over $120 billion in high-tech spending stocks for those over 50 years old.
The rise of Agetech created an opportunity to work with Smarter Service, an IT service company that Shaul describes as the “elder technology concierge.” During his research, his desire to expand the mode of code, and the fact that he “cannot be anywhere at once”, Shoal often introduced his students to smarter services for more personalized consultations.
Shaul wants to translate computer passions into careers in computer science, especially software engineering, and leave a mode of code for others who can develop it further and expand their reach.
“My hope is that someone from my school, or someone I work for, is finally starting a project after me,” he said. “I definitely want it to continue.”
But because of all his love for technology, it may have something to do with the secrets of his success, especially among the senior sets, that is, the face-to-face connection. That's one reason why his team's retirements remain local.
For Geoffrey Washburn, director of Life Redichment at Franks Residences, it wasn't easy to say yes when Shaul pitched him by teaching him. Washburn says he knows that residents need technical support at all times, and he knows how good in-person learning opportunities are, especially on dense topics like Tech.
That level of comfort was clear in my recent session at Franks Residences.
The senior painted all sorts of questions on Shaul and Khaleeli on Pepper, from how to organize their smartphones to what they had planned to study in college. And they did everything they could to ensure that their students were comfortable, empowered and empowered. In Shaul's case, seniors can help them navigate their lives better by understanding how to use their phones for everything from magnifying glasses to podcast apps.
For one thing, the aloeti isn't that convincing. She loves the ability to faceTime with her grandchildren, and uses Alexa to turn off the light. Still, she misses the good old days when college tuition costs only $22 and can talk face to face with people instead of chatting with bots.
This is another reason to understand the code that the mode to code is provided. One senior session at a time.
