Code Ninjas, an educational coding center where kids ages 5-14 are taught to be savvy with technology through video game development, opened in February at 386 Washington St.
But this was not its first Wellesley location.
Wellesley became home to one of the country’s earliest Code Ninjas in 2019. Over time, however, the beloved location in Linden Square began to struggle with business expenses, and eventually, in May 2025, the center closed.
Victor Lee, then owner of the coding school’s Sudbury, Northborough and Hopkinton locations, said the Wellesley location’s former owner, Annie Duong, had run an “amazing center” and had a “positive presence” within the community.
Duong could not be reached for comment.
With the Wellesley location gone, now there were students left without a local center, he said. So, Lee decided to dedicate months to searching for a smaller, more inexpensive location to bring Code Ninjas back to Wellesley, he said.
“For the students who were previously attending Code Ninjas, to have a Code Ninjas to go to, I think, is a very special thing,” he said.
When Lee immigrated to the United States from Korea as a second-grader, he said, English was his second language. A decade before then, he said, knowing English gave Americans a major advantage in terms of earning potential.
But, at this point, the landscape had already shifted, he said.
“The language of today is the language of computers, which is coding, which is Python and JavaScript,” he said. “So when kids come [to Code Ninjas], they’re learning those languages.”
However, as artificial intelligence rapidly emerges, knowing specific languages has become less important, Lee said. What’s become more valuable, he said, is critical thinking and problem-solving skills, which Code Ninjas aims to help reinforce.
Lee said he began the process of opening the new Code Ninjas by examining various locations over the course of several months.
Since Code Ninjas is an after-school program, he mainly considered proximity to schools, residential areas and grocery stores, as parents may head there after dropping their children off, he said.
Eventually, he landed on the current location in Wellesley Hills, which used to be home to a Cycle Bar, a franchise offering indoor cycling classes. After rebuilding the open interior to feature three classrooms, the center officially opened, Lee said.
“Wellesley is such a great town with lots of parents that care about education,” he said. “I’m very excited for them to really come and experience the plethora of curriculum that we’ve developed and have been offering our students, and that the kids already love.”
Aaron Moniz, the current center director who previously worked at the Sudbury location, said one of the center’s main goals now is to rebuild Code Ninjas’ relationship with the community.
For example, he said the center plans to host the New England Youth Basketball Association to introduce coding to dozens of kids from around Boston, Dorchester and Quincy. The center has also held free sessions at the Wellesley Free Library, and intends to continue doing so in the future, he said
“Anytime we can get out to the community and give back, that’s really our biggest focus,” he said.
Lee said the center also places heavy emphasis on hiring the right “senseis,” or instructors. Across the locations he owns, he said there are around 50 senseis and over 500 students.
Mike O’Brien, a sensei who worked previously at a Texas location, said all of the senseis are “former engineers.”
“The kids think they’re coding a game,” O’Brien said. “What they don’t understand is we’re giving them the foundations of what computer science is.”
Joe Laconte, a first-time sensei who worked previously in tech-oriented fields, said some kids come into the center having never used a keyboard before and come out having developed permanent skills.
“We just want to give kids the keys to that new world and all those opportunities,” he pointed to the wall and read the center’s slogan. “A world where kids write the code.”
Learn more about Wellesley’ Code Ninjas, which offers summer camps in addition to its programs during the school year.
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