Clubs shift girls' perception of computer science
Source: Suzanne Baker
Eighth-grader Quincy Houghton said she knows exactly what she wants to study in college: English and computer science. Quincy's goal is to translate her learning into writing storylines for video games that she expects to create someday.
Quincy is among the 30 girls participating in the Girls Who Code club that started in January at Fischer Middle School in Aurora.
Girls Who Code is a national nonprofit organization working to close the gender gap in the technology and engineering fields by helping girls with the skills and resources to pursue opportunities in computing fields. Besides clubs that teach girls to code and introduce girls to computer professionals, the organization hosts a summer immersion program in which students learn computer science fundamentals and meet with women mentors working in technology.
According to the Girls Who Code website, 74 percent of girls in middle school express interest in science, technology, engineering and math, but when choosing a college major, just 0.4 percent of high school girls select computer science. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projections for 2014 to 2024 estimate 1.2 millions job openings will be available in computing occupations due to growth and replacement needs.
The concern by groups like Girls Who Code is that young women could be missing out because they're not considering the field, and one of the biggest obstacles is the perception.
Quincy and fellow eighth-graders in the club said their female peers often see people who work in computer science as "old guys" (Steve Jobs, Bill Gates) and "creepy stalkers" (from movies and television shows).
Even when girls break the mold and show interest in computers, they get stereotyped as loners or underestimated for their abilities because boys often think they are better at computers than girls, Fischer eighth-grader Rianna DeMyers said.
Jane McCormick, instructional technology teacher who started the Girls Who Code club at the District 204 school, sees the impact in the classroom. "We have a coding class now in eighth grade that all can attend. Very few girls sign up for it," she said.
"The real question is how do we keep them interested so they continue on in high school and college. That is what we really need to be addressing; that is a very tough question to answer. We need to keep working on keeping our kids interested."
Girls Who Code clubs in Naperville and Aurora are helping shift that perspective.
On a recent Wednesday, Fischer Middle School's club spoke via Skype to Jessie Graham, a software engineer at Epic Systems in Madison, Wis. She earned both bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science from Washington University in St. Louis, where she also minored in music. Her hobbies range from practicing the clarinet, piano and guitar to riding motorcycles to playing first-person video games.
"I am a huge 'Legends of Zelda' fan," Graham said, a confession that thrilled the younger girls and drew them even more into the long-distance conversation.
McCormick said she's passionate about exposing as many girls to coding as she can.
"There is a super-bright future for whoever wants to jump on the bandwagon and go," she said.
Fischer is one of the few middle schools in the United States to offer Girls Who Code.
"We are doing the same stuff as the high school is doing," McCormick said.
Metea Valley High School science teacher Margaret Stokes assembled a group of computer industry professionals and graduate students to serve as instructors to help the 15 girls who meet Thursday nights for the Girls School Code club at the school, which draws students from Aurora and Naperville.
The club's outside instructors are the life blood of the club, Stokes said.
"They work all day and come to Metea Valley each Thursday. They usually instruct for 15 to 45 minutes, and then the girls work on creating their own code," she said.
Besides code, the club tackles popular tech topics the girls want to discuss, such as security and hacking.
"This was followed up last week by a technical discussion of Apple's decision not to create a back door into the San Bernardino's terrorists' cellphones," Stokes said.
Metea Valley junior Grace Hong was the force behind bringing Girls Who Code to the 95th Street branch of the Naperville Public Library. It was after she attended a summer immersion program in Palo Alto, Calif., that she wanted to bring the club to Naperville.
The 23-member club that meets Friday afternoons is just wrapping its 20-week program.
"We are so proud to be the first library in Illinois to have a Girls Who Code club that was open to the public," said Alison Colman, teen services librarian and the group's adviser.
The bulk of the girls in the library's program are middle school ages.
"I think this concept is so new to them, and they are just starting to try out extracurriculars, which I think is great," Colman said. "High school students typically become too busy in high school, but we do have a few high school students that are in our club."
Hong and Neuqua Valley High School sophomore Trisha Prabhu, who created her own app, serve as student advisers.
"Grace and Trisha are amazing role models who happen to be peers and even younger than some of the girls in Girls Who Code. It's great to see that you can make time for coding and integrate it into a future career or passion in your life as Trisha and Grace have done," Colman said.
Finding volunteer instructors also helped.
"We were fortunate to have Jonathan Wang, a recent college graduate, step forward and apply to specifically work at our club," Colman said. "A few weeks later we could not believe that we had another volunteer instructor in the community who wanted to join us. Hemi Trickey came to us through her place of employment who really encouraged her to work with young girl coders in the community. What a great fit."
Colman encourages other libraries to consider a Girls Who Code club.
"It's a great way to connect with your community and provide girls a safe and fun environment in which to learn coding skills even if they aren't considering computer science as a career," she said.
subaker@tribpub.com
Twitter @SBakerSun1
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