Ruby Lee and Vivian Shen grew up thousands of miles apart, on opposite coasts of the United States, yet they share similar stories of how their path to programming led them to create a unique learning program, designed for kids and revered by parents. In high school, Ruby chose programming in Java as her second language instead of Spanish, while Vivian was initially encouraged to learn coding by her supportive parents.
They both struggled with the curriculum until they discovered mentors and teaching assistants who helped them thrive in a subject they once found daunting and complex.
In 2017, both graduates of Stanford’s Computer Science Program founded a mission-driven technology company called Juni Learning. Juni was built to prep kids for real life, showing them a path to success by teaching them to start early and learn by doing. Connected to credible instructors, Juni’s students develop the creativity, confidence, and grit required to become future Juni instructors and tomorrow’s leaders.
What We Believe
No matter your child’s starting point, whether your student is ready to start in our block-based programming courses or ready to jump into our advanced courses, Juni Learning customizes every student’s experience. Students work with instructors who are hand-selected for them and placed in courses based on their own aptitude, experience, and overall goals. With personalized one-on-one attention and project-based learning, students learn at their own pace with customizable projects in a structured learning environment.
What Our Parents ThinkWe took a poll about parents’ favorite things about Juni Learning and how we are different:
Student-Centric Approach
Ultimately, when our students complete our program, they are empowered to achieve their dreams in various ways:
Imagine this: Chris, a 7th grade student, fires up his computer and logs into his online session. His instructor Alex waves hello - she studies Computer Science at UC Berkeley in California and participates in the club gymnastics team. She has been thoroughly background checked and vetted for her teaching ability and coding experience.
In a private Juni class, they see the same shared screen with the Python project he’s been working on, and they discuss how he can improve his code by using a nested loop. A private online coding class creates an environment where every student can build amazing projects and games with their own instructor. The experience is immersive and interactive, and students can work at their own pace towards mastery. The instructor serves as a mentor and role model for the student, and pushes them to challenge themselves!
Learn more about what to expect from a private Juni class from this video or from this blog post.
Imagine this: Sam, a 7th grade student, fires up her computer and logs into her online session. Her instructor Isabel waves hello - she studies Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at John Hopkins and volunteers with a local urban school teaching STEM. She has been thoroughly background checked and vetted for her teaching ability and coding experience. There are 3 other kids in the session, and they each introduce themselves as well - they’re from all different places, like Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta and Minneapolis.
Each student works independently on their projects and virtually raises their hand to ask for help. The instructor uses a virtual breakout room to help Sam debug an issue she was having with her Python game. Towards the end of the session, every student shares what they’ve been working on, and another student who is a little more advanced chimes in with ways that Sam can add additional colors and designs to her project. The Team Session creates an environment where students can collaborate with each other while still getting one-on-one support and continue working at their own pace.
We believe that the best results are achieved when the student receives personalized attention, so all of our classes are either one-on-one or in small groups of up to 4 students. Students ages 11-18 can sign up for either private classes or Team Sessions with up to 4 students, and students ages 8+ can sign up for private classes. Want to learn more? Get started here.
Every student’s experience is personalized and unique. We work with students across the spectrum of experience, from complete beginners to students who have been coding for years, and work to make all of them feel excited yet challenged by the material.
The majority of Juni students start in one of our core courses, either Scratch Level 1 for students 8-11 years old or Python Level 1 for students 11-18. These are our most popular courses and geared towards getting kids a solid foundation and excited about computer science, with a fun, visual format. On a case-by-case basis, students with at least 6 or more months of experience may be placed into a higher level course. However, even when students have experience we encourage them to start in our Level 1 courses, and we can always move students up a course at the instructor’s recommendation.
Schedule a Welcome Call with a Juni Admissions team member if you believe that your student has enough experience to place into a higher level course, otherwise get started here.
Placing each student into the course that is the best fit for them is critical, as starting at a point that is too advanced or too basic is discouraging and unproductive. Instead, students and parents should focus on building a strong, long-term foundation that will serve them for years to come. Many of our most advanced students start in our beginner courses before working their way up to our Olympiad Training Program. We have also seen a number of students who have completed "advanced" courses with other programs come to Juni and need additional practice with foundational concepts.
The majority of students start in either our Scratch Level 1 (ages 8-11) or Python Level 1 (ages 11+) courses. If your student has 6 or more months of solid programming experience, one of our Admissions Advisors will work with you to evaluate the student's prior experience and assess for the best starting point in our course sequence. Unfortunately we will decline to enroll students in a course outside of the Juni HQ team’s final recommendation, to ensure every Juni student has the best experience with us possible.
Juni Learning is 100% online because we believe that high-quality learning can happen anywhere. Parents report that the flexibility of location and scheduling of our courses is one of the best parts of Juni.
Of course! Please email support@learnwithjuni.com with any homework-related questions, and our team will address them.
Yes. After each course, students receive a certificate of completion recognizing their coding mastery. The certificate is available in the Juni Learner Portal at app.junilearning.com.
At this time, we only offer instruction in our existing structured curriculum. Our course sequence, consists of courses in Scratch, Python, Java, Web Development (HTML, CSS, Javascript, JQuery), AP Computer Science A, and the USA Computing Olympiad.
Our chosen languages are perfect for students looking to get college-ready by building a strong foundation in coding fundamentals, and these are the same languages that many top-tier computer science programs start with, as well.
We offer semi-private classes for students with the same programming background who have an age difference of less than two years. These classes are an opportunity for students to work collaboratively, but require students to have the same goals and learning pace. If students do not meet the age and programming background requirements, we require that students take separate private classes.
Please speak about this more in depth with your Admissions Advisor during your Welcome Call.
The Juni Learner Portal (app.junilearning.com) was built to keep families in the loop on student progress and help students build a portfolio of all of their amazing projects. It also serves as the primary hub for all account information and scheduling.
In the portal, you can track progress through the course curriculum, read session notes from the instructor, work on projects and problem sets, and download completed course certificates.
Parents can also manage any classes that need rescheduling and view upcoming billing information and account details in the portal.
Visit the Juni Learner Portal (app.junilearning.com) to access session notes, completed course modules, and links to student projects. After every private session, instructors leave detailed feedback on what was covered during class, what the student excelled in and where they can improve, and what homework was assigned that week. Notes are emailed to the primary parent or guardian on the account every week. Students can also access completed course certificates in the portal.
Families can also email support@learnwithjuni.com to clarify any notes or leave comments on things the instructor to be aware of. We aspire to transparently work with you so that we can ensure that every student is on a customized fast-track to success.
Juni instructors are hand-selected graduate and undergraduate students who attend top 50 computer science universities in the United States, chosen for their technical aptitude and experience working with students. Currently Juni's acceptance rate for our instructor program is less than 10 percent. All instructors pass a rigorous interview, background check, and multi-stage vetting process. They serve as not only skilled instructors, but also as mentors and role models for their students. Instructors are re-evaluated regularly during their teaching tenure by the Juni Headquarters team. Know that your child is getting mentored by some of the best and brightest in the country!
Juni Instructors are all based in the US and are current students or graduates of top US universities like UC Berkeley, MIT, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, and more. They work across time zones, so we can teach students across the nation (and internationally as well)!
Once private class enrollment is completed, Juni’s student success team hand-pairs every student with their primary instructor. Our instructor matching is carefully done by our team who has worked with thousands of students. If you don’t love your instructor after two classes, we’ll continue to work with you to find a new match until you and your child have a great experience.
The Juni HQ team handles all instructor hiring and vetting, as well as staffing of specific instructors for students and class times. All instructors pass a rigorous hiring process and are all regularly assessed on their performance based on feedback from parents and students as well as an internal review process conducted by the Juni HQ team. There is no such thing as a star-rating system at Juni because each of our instructors passes the highest standard of hiring before they work with any Juni student.
For private classes, our student success team takes into account multiple factors when matching a student with their primary instructor, including the student's age, programming experience, personality, learning style, and scheduling availability.
For Team Sessions with up to 4 students, each instructor undergoes additional training to facilitate a collaborative and fun learning experience for students in group settings. All students in Team Sessions should be at least 11 years old, with similar amounts of coding experience.
If you have feedback to share about your instructor, please contact us. If you don’t love your instructor after two classes, we’ll continue to work with you to find a new match until you and your child have a great experience.
For our private classes, students typically work with their primary instructor for up to 3 months, or as long as we can facilitate while taking into account a student’s advancement in the coursework, and availability of both the student and instructor. During transitional seasons, peak times, and holidays, students may be matched with a new primary instructor given availability. We always notify families in advance of any updates to the primary instructor. In some cases, we will also offer a temporary substitute instructor if your primary instructor is traveling or unavailable during a specific week. If you don’t love your new instructor after two classes, we’ll continue to work with you to find a new match until you and your child have a great experience.
At Juni Learning, we are always looking to bring the best computer science classes to students globally. To refer a new family, please visit junilearning.com/share to generate your unique referral link to share with your friends and colleagues.
For new families that you refer who enroll a student in private classes, the new family will receive a $50 credit and your family will receive a $100 credit. Referral credits are applied on a per-family basis, not a per-student basis.
Please contact us to discuss your needs, although note that we will not be able to offer in-person training.
Yes, we work with employers to offer Juni as a perk to their employees to help boost employee engagement and help employees pass down an important skill to their kids. If you are interested in exploring a partnership with us, please email hello@learnwithjuni.com or contact us for more information.
The Juni Champions League is our calendar of fun online competitions (also known as Hackathons) organized by the Juni Headquarters team. These official contests allow students to show off their skills and creativity, earn cool prizes, and see what other students are creating around the world. Students are split into divisions by age and coding experience. Hackathons are also fun with friends! We allow students to enter as a group or individually, so start gathering your friends early.
We typically run a Hackathon every 2-3 months and will announce them in our blog. To stay in the loop about our Hackathons, please follow us on Facebook or Instagram.
When we announce our next hackathon in our blog, please go ahead and fill out the registration form. Then we will send project prompt details and due dates.
Remember, hackathons are also fun with friends - we allow students to enter as a group or individually, so start gathering your friends early!
At Juni we love celebrating our students’ creativity and excellence in coding. To showcase student progress, we offer a few awards to students. Please note that these are incredibly selective awards and may be used on student resumes, but the goal is really to help students build confidence and demonstrate their work to their families and peers. Participation alone means that students put in hard work and innovation into their projects.
Instructors may nominate their students’ projects for Juni’s Project of the Month (see examples here) and participate in our Hackathons. With each award, we issue a certificate and publish a blog post and YouTube videos celebrating our winners.
The USA Computing Olympiad (also known as USACO) is a national contest that tests students’ programming ability and knowledge of complex computer science topics. USACO is a highly competitive contest recognized by national universities as a marker of demonstrated achievement in computer science. Students who complete at the Platinum level are eligible for a selective training camp and then International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), the most prestigious international computing contest at the high school level.
USACO holds four online contests per year, where participating students download the problems and submit solutions online. Contests are divided into Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum divisions. All students start in Bronze and then are promoted based on their contest scores. You can read more here: http://usaco.org/index.php?page=contests and junilearning.com/blog/usaco-training-competition-results.
Juni’s USACO Training Program is still structured the same way as our other courses (i.e. private 1x or 2x week online sessions), but is more focused on working through meatier problems and developing problem solving skills, particularly starting at the Bronze level. We do ask that all students who decide to do the program commit to competing in the four USACO contests per year.
Currently our USACO program is waitlist-only, but please email us at hello@learnwithjuni.com to be placed on our waitlist.
Juni Instructors are happy to write letters of recommendation for students and share their experience working with the student. Sometimes students need these letters for various summer camps or entry into certain programs, and we love to help. For any request, please email support@learnwithjuni.com, and our team will convey your request to the instructor.
Even just one year of coding experience before university can make a huge difference in a student’s skill level and confidence. There are a few ways that Juni helps students succeed in preparation for college.
AdmissionsBy starting early and demonstrating their academic excellence and leadership in computer science, students can build a strong admissions profile for college. We offer pathways to help students excel in contests and in coursework like AP Computer Science. Please see the question “How can I help build my child’s college resume with Juni?” for a more detailed answer.
In college and beyondMany students report that coding before college gave them a huge confidence boost when starting college, because they had already learned and practiced the material in introductory-level courses. It is common for students to shy away from majoring in computer science if they do not have previous programming experience because of how fast the courses are, but students with previous exposure already feel confident and prepared. Majoring in Computer Science or STEM can heavily impact future student earnings as well - STEM majors earn over one million dollars more in their lifetime than non-STEM majors, showing a huge opportunity gap.
By helping students prepare and building their confidence and resilience early, we can help them succeed for years to come.
Our core course sequence that culminates in Python Level 3 is roughly the equivalent of an introductory college-level course. We built that curriculum based on the introductory courses at Stanford University (CS106A) and UC Berkeley (CS61A). Both of these courses are now taught in Python, though CS106A at Stanford was previously taught in Java until the last few years, demonstrating how the popularity of programming languages changes over time.
We also offer AP Computer Science A, which prepares students for the AP Computer Science A exam, administered in May of each year. Students will learn Java, with an emphasis on object-oriented programming. Some students take this course with Juni Learning in preparation for their own high school AP course while others prepare directly for the exam. Students who take and pass the AP exam can qualify for college credit and signal academic rigor to universities during the application process. Students do not need to take AP CS A in their high school concurrently with this course.
Our college-equivalence does depend on the university, as some schools offer very beginner courses for non-STEM majors. For example, Harvard’s CS50 a broad introduction to Computer Science and touches on web-based technologies alongside more classic algorithms.
Demonstrating academic excellence
We typically recommend students start early in our program, from 8-10 years old, so that they have many years to develop their skills and build a strong profile in computer science. A sample progression for a complete beginner may be:
Students starting as beginners in high school would still start in Python Level 1 and have less time to prepare for USACO, but we have students who started in 9th grade who passed Bronze and Silver within 1-2 years.
Demonstrating leadership and driveBy starting early, students get involved early on with leadership and commitment in subject areas they are interested in within their school and local community. For example, kids who love computer science in middle school can self-organize a project to teach kids at a local community center how to build a video game in Python, or start a computer science club at school when they’re in 9th grade. Some students have gone on to start non-profits or publish apps while in high school as well.
Excelling in selective contestsThe final piece is encouraging your student to participate in contests and demonstrate their skills amongst a group of students. Qualified students may participate in the USA Computing Olympiad or in the Juni Champions League. The Juni Champions League encourages students to compete with hundreds of others across the country in fun programming projects to win prizes. Students do not need to be current Juni students to participate. Doing well in these contests can demonstrate a student’s excellence amongst a group of their peers.
We have multiple program options, which are detailed here. Team Sessions of up to 4 students start at $179 per month and private classes start at $250 per month.
Juni Learning is an approved vendor of a number of Charter School Networks. This means that you can use your funds for our courses to help further your child’s STEM education. Please search your Vendor Directory to see if Juni is available in your network. You can also reach out to us at hello@learnwithjuni.com .
Our program requires: (1) a desktop or laptop computer, running Windows or Mac OS, with a working microphone, speaker, and webcam. (Note: tablets and Chromebooks are not compatible), and students starting in Scratch should also have a mouse; (2) the Chrome browser and Zoom Client must be installed; and (3) a high-speed internet connection (check to see if yours is at least 10mbs). We also strongly recommend headphones to allow the student to concentrate and be immersed in the virtual classroom.
We offer a full computer science curriculum for students ages 8 to 18. Each course typically takes 3 to 6 months to complete, depending on the student's pacing through the material, dedication to homework, their previous coding experience, and the difficulty of course material. The most successful Juni students spend years progressing through our course sequence all the way up to Olympiad-level competition.
To ensure student success, we require that students commit to at least one class per week. Our classes are 50 minutes long and will also include approximately one hour of homework each week (we can always give less or more, depending on what’s going on in your student’s life).
If the student is comfortable independently using a computer, keyboard, and mouse (without a touchscreen), then it is a great time to start coding -- typically around age 7 or 8. We also have successful students who enroll in high school and go on to excel in our most advanced courses. Schedule a Welcome Call with Juni’s Admissions Department to find out if now is the right time to enroll for your student.
In order to be eligible for enrollment in a Juni Learning class, we require that students are able to:
Typically, the recommended starting age is 7 or 8 years old. If your student meets these requirements, Schedule a Welcome Call with the Juni Admissions Department to discuss enrolling your child.
For Team Sessions, parents and students can book sessions flexibly using the Juni Learner Portal up to 24 hours in advance.
For private classes, students meet with their instructor at a recurring time each week, like Mondays at 4 pm Pacific Time.
We offer rolling enrollment throughout the entire year, with classes available on weekdays and weekends from 8 am until 8 pm Pacific Time.
Contact support@learnwithjuni.com with your updated availability if your schedule changes, and we take care of adjusting your recurring class cycle. Please note that in these situations, we cannot guarantee that you will remain with the same primary instructor.
Juni classes can be rescheduled with 24+ hours advance notice with no additional charge, using the Juni Learner Portal. We require at least 24 hours advance notice to ensure our instructors have enough time to plan and prepare for their teaching schedules. If a class is not rescheduled in time, it is considered missed and will not be rescheduled or refunded. We do make exceptions to this policy in case of family emergencies or illness.
Our private classes can be paused if you are traveling for more than 2 weeks or if your student needs to take time off for any reason. Email support@learnwithjuni.com, and our team will take care of it for you.
We understand that unexpected situations may arise, and we want to ensure our programs work with your family’s schedule. We offer a full money-back guarantee within your first 2 classes, no questions asked. Afterward, we are happy to cancel your plan from your next bill date onwards. You can reach out to support@learnwithjuni.com or (650) 263-4306 and we'll be happy to assist.
