Fleming Island’s Code Ninjas announces first black belt

Code Ninjas in Fleming Island, a learning center that started in Clay County in 2021, said in a news release that it teaches children computer coding and problem-solving skills while having fun building video games.

Code Ninja’s said Virgilio Gombio Jr. officially earned his coding black belt on Oct. 31 and is the first coding black belt in Clay County.

“To earn a coding black belt, Virgilio had to complete a capstone project leveraging the software development lifecycle to include planning, prototyping, development, alpha and beta testing, and a release phase,” the company said. “Virgilio created a fully functional game in Unity called Cubit’s Defense which is a tower defense game with endless waves of enemies.”

“Virgil is an amazing coder and game designer,” said Jack Randolph, center director. “During his black belt process, he took feedback very seriously from both his fellow ninjas and Code senseis. He was able to apply bug fixes and game updates quickly and effectively, and it shows in his black belt game.”