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Meet Your Neighbor: ERIC MENDELSOHN
Meet The Neighbor
ERIC MENDELSOHN
By Callie Thomas
Where did the summer go? The temps are still high, but in Vegas it’s already back to school for valley kids this month and time for re-focusing on studies from math and science to English, history and technology. With over twenty-five years of teaching experience and education management under his belt, along with an M.A. in English as well as extensive program development, Eric Mendelsohn has worked with a wide range of students from diverse cultural and educational backgrounds. His passion for computer sciences has also ensured that Las Vegas students have the ability to gain integral knowledge and skills in a vast and ever-evolving field of communication, which he accomplishes through programs he’s created as an outreach effort of Code Central, a business he started with his brother Brian about three years ago.
Mendelsohn and his family are six-year Las Vegas residents, originating from San Francisco. In those short years he became the recipient of the 2017 Las Vegas Top Tech Executive Community Exemplary Award for outreach and involvement by bringing technology education to youth in the Las Vegas area in association with the Clark County School District and Girl Scouts of Southern Nevada. He’s not only been a contributing member of the Nevada Board of Education’s Computer Science standards writing team, he helped to create the state’s new Computer Science curriculum. Mendelsohn currently sits on the advisory board for LIED Stem Academy and is a member of the School Organizational Teams at Wallin and Wolf Elementary Schools. Through these endeavors he’s brought coding to kids across the valley. “It’s important to me that I give back to the community by offering whatever resources and knowledge I have to benefit others,” he said. “I enjoy creating opportunities that inspire others to learn, especially as a father of a third-grader.”
This past summer the organization offered a series of tech camps for kids age 7 to 17, providing a fun and collaborative space that inspires creativity and teaches programming skills from developing websites to programming robots and creating video games. “My goal was to create an environment where boys and girls could learn valuable skills and coding. They also are given the ability to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. My vision is that some will eventually become computer programmers in the industry.”
Earlier in the year, Code Central also held its first Student Showcase event at the Switch Innovation Center. “We had over 150 students and family members attend, and Senator Jacky Rosen came to speak about the value of what we are providing the youth,” Mendelsohn said with pride. In addition to the Showcase event, their philanthropic endeavors also include FACES, providing free family coding events to CCSD families; hosting workshops for the Girl Scouts of Southern Nevada to earn badges in technology; hosting free video game design workshops to members and visitors of the Discovery Children’s Museum; and offering summer camp scholarships for middle and high school students through the Southern Nevada Cybersecurity Alliance, among others. “I love to create learning opportunities for others and for myself,” he said, which includes exploring another passion—music. “I play the drums and love to see live music.”
Whenever Mendelsohn isn’t teaching, working on his business and the many outreach programs for our city’s youth, you’ll most likely find him spending quality time at home with his wife and daughter. “My wife and I both have crazy work schedules, so it’s a real treat for all of us to be home together.”
Although he’s accomplished much throughout his career and throughout the community, Eric Mendelsohn doesn’t consider himself a success. “Success to me means doing and giving my best at all times, and I fail at this often. I am a work in progress!”
