It’s a busy Friday afternoon in the Lexington Center. As eager children find their way to Penguin Coding School for their first Python coding class, advanced students are next door crafting nifty LEGO robots for the FIRST LEGO League Challenge. The students’ process is one of independent experimentation, conducted only with occasional advice from Penguin Coding School founder Yumio Saneyoshi. Still, nothing beats the smiles on students’ faces when their creations finally succeed.
On Sept. 7, Penguin Coding School began its fall classes at a new location: 1646 and 1666 Massachusetts Avenue, in the Lexington Center.
The Lexington-owned business moved from 5 Militia Drive, which will be torn down for a new apartment complex under the new MBTA Communities Act. The move was also due to the lack of visibility Penguin Coding School had at its previous location.
“We’re in visible places in almost all [our] other branches: we’re in Newton Town Center; we’re next to Starbucks in Acton; in New York [we’re] also right in the middle of things. Lexington was the only place where we’re tucked away,” Saneyoshi said.
The visibility in Lexington Center has helped Penguin Coding market itself. Previously, Saneyoshi relied on free trial classes, local events and word of mouth to advertise his business. Now he’s able to attract students simply by displaying his logo in a commonly visited area.
“More people are aware of our existence… When kids walk by, they see something that’s interesting, they tell their parents. That is a valuable kind of marketing that we want,” Saneyoshi explained.
According to Dong Mei Sarafan, the head teacher of Penguin Coding in Lexington, the business has also been able to connect more with the town through its new location. Community members stop by and ask questions more often, and “being within walking distance of other local businesses has made the experience even more vibrant and convenient.”
Finding a space in the center wasn’t easy. Saneyoshi described several challenges that made commercial real estate in Lexington inaccessible to business owners like him.
“Both the commercial agents and the landlords are not very aggressive about finding new tenants. They’re very passive, and you as a tenant have to go knock on their doors many times to get them to answer emails,” Saneyoshi said. “The market doesn’t function very well because the buyer has to find the seller. The seller is not advertising or letting people know that these vacancies exist.”
Saneyoshi discovered 1666 Massachusetts Avenue through LoopNet, a commercial real estate platform similar to Zillow and Redfin. However, he found 1646 Massachusetts Avenue, the building next door that now houses Penguin Coding’s robotics classes, through a stroke of luck.
“This [place] wasn’t even on the market… The only place that was actually advertised was next door in the other building. But the same landlord owns this building as well. So they’re like, ‘Oh, there’s another place that might be available, if you’re willing to do two,’” Saneyoshi said.
Saneyoshi founded Penguin Coding School nine years ago after moving to Lexington from the Bay Area. He had previously worked in the technology industry in Silicon Valley, and hoped to start a business of his own. After realizing that he enjoyed teaching his children how to code, Saneyoshi began hosting free classes for students in town. His mission was to expose students to the fun of coding and robotics at a young age, so that the subjects wouldn’t appear as daunting to pursue later on.
“When you wait until you’re in high school or college… a lot of people just turn away from [coding and robotics], because by then, you’re in the same class with kids who’ve been doing it for ten years,” Saneyoshi said. “And I feel like that’s too bad, because it’s not any harder than any other subject, and it’s actually more fun because you can build stuff.”
The business first held its classes in Hancock Church by the Battle Green. After observing a rising demand for his service, Saneyoshi expanded Penguin Coding to Newton, Acton, and Brookline in Massachusetts; as well as Brooklyn, New York. Since the pandemic, the business has also offered online classes to students across America.
The Lexington branch of Penguin Coding hosts classes nearly every day of the week on topics ranging from Minecraft and Roblox to Python. During each class, students build software or hardware themselves, rather than delve deep into theory. Penguin Coding School’s classes prioritize hands-on activities and are meant to be “equal parts fun and learning,” so that students can genuinely enjoy themselves. The school’s slogan is “Where kids code with a smile.”
In the future, Saneyoshi hopes to continue expanding Penguin Coding School to other towns near Lexington. His goal: to keep pioneering robotics and coding literacy among youths.