Alexander Mackworth: Inside the Mind of an Extraordinary 8th Grader

Two people sit at a table discussing how to make their new app. One writes as the other throws out a list of ideas. They are an unlikely couple. One is a math and science teacher and the other is an eighth grader excitedly listing concepts.

I don’t feel guilty about listening in on their conversation. I am astounded by the incredible amount of knowledge presented by this 13-year-old, Alexander Mackworth.

Although he has advanced programming skills for his age, Mackworth is just like any other kid, playing and exploring.

Mackworth grew up in Portland, Oregon. He was six years old when he came across a program called Scratch. Scratch helps young people develop what they call “21st century skills” such as programming, animating and code creating. The majority of the Scratch website is used to share works that young people have created, including video games, videos, music and stories. Mackworth participated in these novelties at first but eventually decided to do something more professional.

Mackworth soon outgrew the skills that Scratch taught him and moved on to other books and online tutorials. Eventually, he decided to name this quickly expanding hobby.

Mackworth founded and continues to work for Tesseract, a company he designed that allows him to write his computer programs. Although he is Tesseract’s sole employee, having his own business makes Mackworth feel both confident and proficient as he creates.

From an aesthetic standpoint, Mackworth’s demeanor is professional. He walks around the school in slacks or khakis and a polo shirt under a sweater, giving him a casual Friday look. At a school where blue hair is the norm, Mackworth stands out with his dressed-up attire.

Mackworth stays focused in and out of class. In Pre-Calculus, while the entire class is racking their brains or talking to find the answer, Mackworth usually gets the answer before any of his peers.

In the academic world, Mackworth exceeds expectations. Before coming to the Northwest Academy, Mackworth attended The International School. There, he showed his work ethic and determination in becoming fluent in Spanish by fifth grade.

Mackworth applied to Northwest Academy for middle school and was accepted into the sixth grade in 2011. Mackworth began his year and did his best fitting into Northwest Academy’s academic culture. The school places a large emphasis on how art and academics can cohabitate on an educational level.

Mackworth was placed in a highly advanced math class in sixth grade, meaning he was two years ahead. He skipped Pre-Algebra entirely and was placed in Algebra One which is normally an eighth grade class.

Aaron Hampshire was the teacher of this Algebra One class and was impressed with the math skills of this sixth grader.

“He’s extremely motivated and passionate about the topic of computer programming,” Hampshire said.

As a sixth grader, Mackworth first made his skills apparent when Mackworth created Babbage, an application designed to respond creatively to the Algebra One curriculum.

“(Babbage) incorporated many of the themes we were exploring in class,” Hampshire said.

In eighth grade, Mackworth contacted Hampshire in hopes of pursuing an independent research course. He wanted to use his love of developing code and merge it with Northwest Academy’s culture of independence to traverse the path less traveled.

Mackworth pitched many ideas, but the one that finally stuck was a project planner and creator that have the added ability to undo or redo anything that is created.

“The project arose out of a personal need,” Mackworth said. “After spending hours wrangling with my version control system, I decided to build something to make it easier.”

Mackworth wanted to make a user interface that was less archaic so that the idea of version control would be more prevalent to the greater population.

“The tagline is ‘Version Control for Human Beings,’” Mackworth said. “Essentially, it allows people to store files, collaborate on projects and be able to travel back in time within a project. Essentially, an infinite undo.”

The application is designed for working people, not only businessmen but also students. Mackworth said that the technology has existed for a long time and that it is not a new idea. However, the programming for it is very old fashioned. He wants to improve what has been established and allow the operating system and user interface to be accessible and usable to the average person.

With the help of GitHub, a popular server hosting website, Mackworth’s application also lets users share their projects with other people. This could be someone on your programming team or your friend who wants to edit your English humanities paper.

Mackworth’s effort and determination make him stand out. There is no doubt that his programming skill will look mighty appetizing on a college application.

Even though Mackworth’s programming skills are extraordinary compared to other people his age, he remains resolute that anybody could do what he has done. He is just a normal kid who explores, plays and makes strange noises.

“Everyone has the capability to program, as long as they have determination and confidence,” Mackworth said. “Exploring systems is second nature to us humans; most people just assume they aren’t smart enough to do so.”