Teachers at St George Christian School Hurstville scratched their heads as they realised one of their students knew a lot more in one particular classroom than they did.
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It's not often the student becomes the teacher, but when self-taught coder Jesaiah Creek showed off his coding skills, there were some baffled glances in the staffroom.
The 15-year-old is an accelerated student who will take on three units mathematics in the HSC this year.
For for past couple of years, the Year 10 student has taught himself how to code. He won the Young ICT Explorers in 2022 and most recently, won Apple's Swift Student Challenge.
The challenge required students to design an app. Jesaiah built SaxApp, which give people the chance to play an instrument without having to purchase one.
The app also has noise control functionality which is particularly helpful for people with disabilities who are sensitive to noise.
As part of his prize, Jesaiah received one year of membership in the Apple Developer Program, which gives him access to valuable mentoring.
Also a saxophone player, the teenager combined his two passions and launched a lunch time course to mentor other students.
"The free app re-shapes the way people learn the saxophone. People with vision or hearing impairments are able to use it," Jesaiah said. "The development club I started teachers students in Year 6 and 7 how to make an app around their passion area. Coding is growing so rapidly."
St George Christian School's IT Teacher and Robotics Coordinator Karen Binns, said Jesaiah's desire to share his knowledge was inspiring.
"He came up with a plan to start a coding club and I'm one of those teachers who will give any student a go if they've got reason," she said.
"We get gifted and talented students but every now and then out of the box you get kids who don't really fit the school curriculum."
She said teachers had to think outside of the square in order to support his thriving talent.
"I can't code like he can but I can keep him going and find him the right mentors," she said. "I went to Apple and said no teacher in this school knows how to do coding at his level, and they supported it."
Jesaiah's mother Vera said her son's enthusiasm for coding was infectious, and he has also inspired his younger sister.
"I like him to try things at least once and once he tried coding, he said he wanted to go all the time," she said.
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