TechGirlz Entrepreneur Summer Camp sells out in 12 hours, teams up with Startup Corps and DreamIT Ventures

TechGirlz, a nonprofit that aims to inspire girls to learn about technology, announced open registration for the week-long Entrepreneur Summer Camp it is organizing with high school entrepreneurship nonprofit Startup Corps and startup incubation and mentorship program DreamIT Ventures in July.

We’d tell you to have the middle school girl in your life sign up, except for one small issue: it’s already sold out.

“We sold out in 12 hours,” said Tracey Welson-Rossman, co-founder of Techgirlz and Chief Marketing Officer at Chariot Solutions, who says the camp will run like a mini DreamIT program.

Even though it’s booked up, the camp is still something to keep an eye on this summer.

The crew of 20 sixth to eighth grade girls will spend the week of July 9 through July 13 learning about technology and entrepreneurship by concocting their own business ideas.

“We are going to have developers working on prototypes with the girls,” said Welson-Rossman. “We want the girls to be able to express their idea to a developer even if they can’t build it themselves.”

With the help of five camp counselors from Startup Corps and DreamIT, the program is intended to teach the girls about every step of the startup process.

“To be able to leverage the success and stature that DreamIT has here in Philadelphia and combine it with our focus and our passion — we can only do good things and have lots of learning about how to do things even better,” said co-founder Anita Garimella Andrews, who also founded Sepiida, an internet marketing optimization and product management services firm.

In the meantime, TechGirlz has teamed up with recently launched FundingWorks, non-profit crowdsourced fundraising platform, to raise money to subsidize the girls’ participation here. As of publication, TechGirlz had raised $445 of its $600 goal. If the goal is met, TechGirlz will be able to offer four scholarships to camp participants, says Welson-Rossman.

Welson-Rossman told Technically Philly the camp and TechGirlz in general has received a lot of support from the Philly tech community.

“We may not be as corporate or have the dollar in terms of creating incubators for women only, but there is definitely a movement here to help women learn technology,” said Welson-Rossman.

To support the summer camp, you can visit their FundingWorks page here.