#CodingLabStudents: Wen Yan, ICS 2025/26 Gold Award Winner!
Congratulations to Wen Yan for winning the ICS 25/26 Gold + Judge’s Choice (Social Impact) Award!
Meet our Coding Lab student, Wen Yan, whose passion for creativity and problem-solving continues to shine through her coding journey. After participating in the International Coding Showcase (ICS) 2025/26, she was awarded the Gold Award and the Judges' Choice (Social Impact) Award for her outstanding project.
Through her interactive simulation game on climate change, she demonstrated how technology can be used to educate, inspire, and create meaningful change from a young age. Now let’s hear more from Wen Yan about her coding journey!
“My coding journey started at a Coding Lab holiday camp, where I realised coding is a powerful tool that allows me to bring my imagination to life and help others in meaningful ways.”
Tell us a little about yourself!
I love reading widely and practicing ballet, which has taught me discipline and perseverance. In my free time, I enjoy sketching and brainstorming ideas for apps that can solve everyday problems I notice around me. I find it exciting to turn those ideas into something meaningful through technology.
Wen Yan has been with Coding Lab for several years and we are glad to see her growth and achievements in various competitions like ICS and Technovation Girls!
How did your coding journey begin?
My coding journey started at a Coding Lab holiday camp. I immediately fell in love with coding because I realised it wasn't just about arranging blocks or writing lines of code, it was a powerful tool that allowed me to bring my imagination to life. I discovered that with coding, I could create things that not only express my creativity but also help others in meaningful ways.
What inspired you to participate in ICS 2025/2026?
After having such an enjoyable experience creating an original project for ICS 2024/2025, I was thrilled to learn that this year's theme centred around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Climate change is an issue that I care deeply about, so I wanted to create an interactive simulation game that would help children better understand its impact.
My goal was to make learning about climate change fun, engaging, and accessible, while encouraging young people to think about the small actions they can take to make a positive difference.
“From creating an award-winning climate simulation game for ICS to reaching the global Technovation Girls semifinals with my team’s PenguinGuard SG app, I want to keep mastering advanced programming to solve real-world community challenges.”
What was the biggest lesson you learned during the project?
One of the biggest lessons I learned was that developing a complex project requires resilience and patience. Debugging was often challenging, but every obstacle became an opportunity to discover a better solution and improve my work.
I also really enjoyed applying the design thinking process. By actively gathering feedback from my family and friends throughout development, I was able to refine the simulation, improve the user experience, and create a stronger final project.
What are your aspirations for the future?
I hope to continue mastering more advanced programming concepts so I can develop applications that address community and environmental challenges.
Recently, I co-developed PenguinGuard SG with a friend at Coding Lab, an app that empowers children to quietly report unsafe environments. The project reached the semifinals of the global Technovation Girls competition in 2026, which encouraged me to continue using technology to create positive social impact.
Going forward, I hope to build even more meaningful projects and collaborate with like-minded peers to solve real-world challenges that can make our communities better places.
At Coding Lab, we're incredibly proud to see our students applying their technical skills with empathy, creativity, and purpose. We look forward to seeing what she builds next as she continues using technology to make a meaningful impact on the world. Congratulations, and we wish her all the best on her coding journey!
Our #CodingLabStudents blogs feature our ambitious students and their ongoing coding journeys – be it the budding coder or advanced Python Pro, we appreciate each and every single one’s efforts as they progress to greater heights. 🌱
Coding Lab offers an award-winning curriculum specially for ages 5 to 18 – check out our courses to begin your own coding journey today!
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