iSchool Inclusion Institute (i3) alums and University of Pittsburgh Master of Science students Rebecca Ly (‘14) and Taylor Neal (‘15) are pleased to announce their new roles as facilitators of Girls Who Code (GWC) at Oakland Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. GWC is a non-profit organization dedicated to closing the gender gap in technology. The organization inspires many young women, specifically females in high school, to explore programming, create technology and pursue computer science and related fields. Ly and Neal will be facilitating alongside University of Pittsburgh undergraduates, Meera Rubinchik and Gwyn Perisse. i3 and the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences are supporting this exciting project because of their commitment to diversity in computing.
As facilitators, Ly and Neal will lead a group of students through a curriculum of core concepts needed to design and build projects to impact local communities. In order to demonstrate the breadth of knowledge and opportunities that students will have as programmers, weekly workshops will include guest speakers and onsite tours of local companies and University of Pittsburgh labs. At the end of the year, the students will have a chance to work with one of the many companies that partner with GWC. Ly and Neal will serve as mentors and instructors, as well as provide the girls with valuable pre-collegiate experience in a competitive and rewarding field.
GWC at Oakland Catholic High School will begin in October 2016 and run through May 2017.