Diversity & Inclusion

Girls Who Code gave high schoolers a chance to use their new skills this summer

The 23 participants in the Software.org–sponsored immersive program went to Congress, and built new projects.

Girls Who Code students. (Courtesy photo)

A seven-week program held in D.C. helped nearly two dozen high school girls gain coding experience this summer.

Software.org: The BSA Foundation and Girls Who Code partnered to offer an immersion program for local students. In all, 23 participants got experience with HTML, CSS, and Python, according to info from D.C.–based Software.org detailing one of two Girls Who Code programs in D.C. this summer. They also put the languages to work to build apps and websites, as well as robotics projects. In July, the program also included a hackathon in which students dug into issues and gave tech presentations to members of Congress.

“Most of these young women have little to no experience in coding when they first start the class, but they come away feeling confident enough to call themselves ‘coders’ and ‘programmers,’ and see a future in tech,” Chris Hopfensperger, Executive Director of Software.org: the BSA Foundation, said in a prepared statement.

Participants presented coding projects at a graduation ceremony held August 9. At the event, they also heard from Twitter Head of Global Communications Elaine Filadelfo, who gave the keynote speech.

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