North Kansas City, MO · Near Gashland Elementary

After-School Coding Near Gashland Elementary

Most programs teach kids to code. At Love to Code Academy, near Gashland Elementary, we teach kids to push through failure, support their teammates, and take ownership of their own growth — using technology as the environment to do it.

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📍 Serving Families Near Gashland Elementary in North Kansas City, MO

Gashland Elementary families in the North Kansas City School District want their kids building real skills, not just filling after-school hours. Love to Code Academy operates from a Northland campus on Barry Road, offering coding, robotics, and esports programs for kindergarten through 8th grade students, with a track built for wherever a Gashland Elementary student is starting from. What sets LTCA apart for Gashland families is not the curriculum alone. It is a program deliberately built to put kids in moments where something does not work the first time, whether that is a robot that will not balance, a game that keeps crashing, or a round they lose to a better opponent, and coaches who are right there naming persistence, self-control, and teamwork as those moments happen. Character is not a separate lesson tacked onto the schedule. It is what every session is actually training. Belt advancement makes that growth visible over time, giving both students and parents a clear picture of what comes next. Gashland families see the shift show up at home first, in how their child handles a hard homework problem or a disagreement with a sibling. Schedule a free trial class and bring your Gashland Elementary student in to experience a session firsthand.

Why Families Choose LTCA

Technology is the environment.
Character is the outcome.

Every session at Love to Code Academy is structured around one controlling idea: we grow kids, not just coders. The projects students build are real. The growth that happens while building them is the point.

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One program, three tracks

Students choose Coding, Robotics, or Esports — or move between all three. Every track runs on the same character framework and the same belt progression from White to Black.

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The belt system makes growth visible

Nine belts track both technical skill and character development simultaneously. Parents always know exactly where their child stands and what specific behaviors they are working toward next.

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Coaches, not just instructors

Every LTCA coach is trained to name character traits in real time — not at end-of-semester reviews. Persistence is recognized when it happens. Teamwork is named the moment it is shown.

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Fits a busy family's schedule

After-school sessions, weekend options, and summer camps — designed for students who already have full schedules. Families in the Northland can build LTCA into any routine without conflict.

Three Tracks. One Character Framework.

Choose the track that fits your child

Every track at Love to Code Academy is built on the same foundation — the LTCA Character Framework — with ten observable traits reinforced in every session, regardless of which program your child is in.

💻 Coding

Block-based and text-based coding using Scratch, Kodable, and Microsoft MakeCode. Students build real projects and develop the persistence to debug and rebuild when something doesn't work.

Students from Gashland Elementary bring the curiosity and energy that LTCA coaches build on from the very first session — progressing from block-based to text-based coding as they advance.

K–8 Scratch Kodable MakeCode

Learn about Coding

🤖 Robotics

Hands-on building with LEGO Education and VEX Robotics. Students design, build, and compete — developing teamwork and engineering mindset through real physical challenges that can't be simulated.

Elementary students from Gashland Elementary discover in Robotics that building something physical — and rebuilding it when it doesn't work — is one of the most satisfying forms of problem-solving they've ever experienced.

Grades 3–8 LEGO Ed VEX

Learn about Robotics

🎮 Esports

Structured competitive gaming built around self-control, sportsmanship, and team communication. The game is the environment. Character is what we are developing in every session.

Students from Gashland Elementary find in Esports a competitive environment that takes their gaming seriously — and uses it as the training ground for self-control, teamwork, and strategic thinking.

Grades 4–8 Strategy Team Play

Learn about Esports

The LTCA Character Framework

Ten traits. Reinforced every session.
Visible to parents at home.

Every coach at Love to Code Academy names character traits in real time — when students show persistence, when they demonstrate teamwork, when they handle a setback with self-control. Parents in the North Kansas City area report seeing these changes at home first. Below are five of the ten traits developed across every LTCA session.

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Mentorship

At LTCA, the older students are the best argument for what the program produces over time. Students in the Lab Tech pathway naturally model the character framework for younger students — not because they were told to, but because they have internalized it. Mentorship here is organic, structured, and entirely observable.

Learn about Mentorship

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Teamwork

In every LTCA session, teamwork is defined, observed, and named, not just encouraged. Students take on assigned roles with real, shared outcomes, and coaches recognize genuine collaboration instead of performed participation. That distinction changes how a student understands what it actually means to contribute to a group, on a team, in a classroom, or at home.

Learn about Teamwork

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Persistence

The culture of persistence at LTCA starts day one. Coaches don't rescue students when they get stuck — they observe, then name the moment a student chooses to keep going. "That right there is persistence" becomes a phrase students recognize, internalize, and eventually begin saying about each other.

Learn about Persistence

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Integrity

In a program built around competition and advancement, integrity is the foundation. LTCA students learn early that a belt earned dishonestly means nothing — and coaches reinforce that the standard exists to make the milestone real. Integrity isn't taught through values posters. It is built through real moments of choice under observation.

Learn about Integrity

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Passion

At LTCA, passion is observed in the student who stays on a problem past the end of session, who asks what comes after Black Belt, who shows up to open lab on a day they weren't required to. Coaches name it when they see it — because named passion becomes a defining part of a student's identity.

Learn about Passion

View All Ten Character Traits

🥋 The Belt System Makes Growth Measurable

Nine belts — White through Black — mark each student's development across both technical skill and character. Every belt has a defined identity and observable behaviors that must be demonstrated before advancement. Learn about the belt system

Also Serving Families Near

Other Schools in the North Kansas City Area

Love to Code Academy serves K–8 students from across North Kansas City and the surrounding Northland. Click any school below for location-specific program information tailored to that school's families.

🏫 Bell Prairie Elementary